Mid-West Radio journalist wins award

Mid-west radio journalist wins a European award


Anton McNulty

MID-WEST radio broadcaster and journalist Teresa O’Malley won the a European Journalism award for her documentary on former EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn.
The radio programme entitled ‘Padraig Flynn - a Force for Change in Europe’ was broadcast on Midwest Radio in early January and was the Irish winner in the radio section of the 2009 European Journalist Awards. Her documentary on the former EU Commissioner will now go forward to compete with 27 other EU states for the overall title, to be announced in October.
The documentary was part of a highly acclaimed four part series called ‘Mayo Abroad’ that looked at the impact of Mayo natives on the international stage. Focusing on the Castlebar man’s impact as EU Commissioner for Social Affairs in the nineties, the programme outlined Padraig Flynn’s ambitions within that posting and his emphasis on employment for EU citizens.
The programme outlines how Mr Flynn used the significant budget of the EUs Social Fund to provide money for re-training and education for a growing number of people unemployed at that time.
Teresa is the Head of News at Mid-west radio and has won numerous national awards for journalism including four ESB National Media Awards, a Connaught Gold/John Healy Award and a PPI award. The series “Mayo Abroad” was co-produced by her colleague in the Midwest newsroom Liamy MacNally with technical assistance from Ronan Courrell. It was commissioned by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland under its Sound and Vision scheme.