Revealed: Tipperary newspapers and website nominated for three Local Ireland Media Awards

Two Tipperary newspapers and their sister website have been nominated for three Local Ireland Media Awards, it has been revealed. 

The short-list of nominees for the 9th Local Ireland Media Awards have been announced and The Nationalist, Tipperary Star and tipperarylive.ie have all been shortlisted for the prestigious national awards.

The hotly-contested accolades showcase excellence in journalism and the achievements of Ireland's local news publishers and their staff.

This year's awards will be sponsored for the seventh consecutive year by the National Lottery.

President of Local Ireland and Head of Irish Times Regionals, Dan Linehan, said: "We have had nearly 600 entries for the awards which underlines the quality and excellence of our local newspapers and their digital and online platforms.

"I want to thank the National Lottery for their sponsorship of the awards and their commitment to supporting local journalism, which is at the heart of communities across Ireland."

National Lottery CEO, Cian Murphy, said: "We are incredibly proud of our continued association with the Local Ireland Media Awards that recognise the top-class journalists and media professionals who tirelessly serve our local communities.

"We are also very excited to host the Best Community Journalist category, a category that aligns with our own core values of generosity in community spirit and recognises the impact of communities working together to make a real and tangible difference."

Darren Hassett, Regional Editor and Digital Development Director for Iconic Media Group, said: "This is a huge achievement for The Nationalist, the Tipperary Star and tipperarylive.ie.

"The nominations are testament to the hard work of our editorial staff and freelance photographers and contributors across the Premier County - all of whom contribute to producing top quality local newspapers each and every week on top of our in-house editorial team publishing live news, 24/7 to the website tipperarylive.ie."

The Nationalist has been nominated in the category of Best Use of Photography for its "Darkest of Days" front page while the Tipperary Star has been shortlisted in the Best Front Page category for its front page following the passing of Shane McGowan. 

Meanwhile, tipperarylive.ie has been nominated in the category of Best Use Of Digital for the project of "turning tipperarylive.ie into a community news page". 

The judges for the awards include author and broadcaster Alison O’Connor, who is chairing the panel, broadcaster and journalist Dearbhail McDonald, Emeritus Professor at TUD Michael Foley, Dawn Wheatley of DCU School of Communications, Managing Director of Kinetic Ireland Andrew Sinclair, photographer and former Irish Times Picture Editor Frank Miller, broadcaster and writer Valerie Cox, journalist and author PJ Cunningham, novelist and newspaper columnist Dr Martina Devlin, Policy Editor of the Business Post Daniel Murray and Deputy Night Editor of the Irish Sun Gerry McCarthy.

The award winners will be announced at a gala event at the Mullingar Park Hotel on Thursday, September 19.

The evening will be hosted by RTÉ presenter and Eurovision guru Marty Whelan.