The Mayo News wins three European Design Awards

Edwin McGreal

The Mayo News was once again the toast of the Irish newspaper scene in claiming three European Newspaper Awards.
The paper won more honours than any other Irish newspaper  – local or national – in scooping three awards of excellence in the Sectional Fronts category for our page layout and design.
The awards were for front pages in our Sport section, our Living section and the front page of our 2018 Review of the Year supplement.
The winning Sport front was a beautifully used portrait of the late Padraig Carney, the Mayo GAA star, who died last June in his second home of Los Angeles. The portrait was taken by Los Angeles Times photographer Gary Coronado in 2018.  The Living section recieved an award for two separate front pages, one a piece by Ger Flanagan on a school opera with a stunning picture, wonderfully used, by photographer Michael McLaughlin while another piece of Ger’s, an interview with magician Keith Barry, was also singled out.
Michael Duffy, Editor of The Mayo News, said the three awards again revealed the newspaper’s commitment to the high standards.
“The awards are a fitting acknowledgement of the ongoing excellent work of our designers here, led by our Head of Design and IT, Kevin Loftus. Kevin and his team are always seeking to find new ways of bringing the paper to another level and consistently come up with the goods, week in, week out.
“The awards also serve to justify our in-house design team. Many newspapers have been forced to let go of their production department and go down the road of syndicated design, but the ability to have our designers in-house is something we value and I think it is shown in the ongoing high standards of the newspaper,” said Mr Duffy.
The Mayo News is the only local newspaper to have twice won the overall Best Local Newspaper in Europe, having claimed the hugely prestigious title in 2007 and 2014.
This is the 21st European Design Awards with the four overall awards going to titles in Norway, Portugal, Great Britain and Germany this year.
A total of 184 newspapers from 25 countries took part in the 21st European Newspaper Awards. There were more than 4,000 entries in the 20 categories of the competition.
In addition, 286 online projects from eleven countries were submitted to the jury. Compared to the previous year, significantly more multimedia and data journalistic projects were submitted.
The 17 jury members came from eight countries. They are journalists, scientists and designers.
The European Newspaper Awards is organised by newspaper designer Norbert Küpper. It is considered the largest newspaper competition in Europe. The aim is to show international trends in newspapers in print and online and to promote the exchange of creative ideas in Europe.
The award ceremony will take place during a congress in Vienna in April 2020.