Press Pass Student Journalists of the Year 2023 announced

The winners of the NewsBrands Ireland Press Pass student journalism competition were announced yesterday at an awards ceremony in the Aviva Stadium with prizes awarded in six categories including News Writing, Features, Opinion, Sports Journalism, Photojournalism, and best School Newspaper.

The event, which was hosted by Matt Cooper, was attended by the award winning schools students, their teachers and families, along with national newspaper editors and journalists.

A panel discission discussing media literacy and the role of journalism in society and education took place with Sunday Times Editor, Nóirín Hegarty, Business Post Editor Daniel McConnell, and English teacher Richie Hayes.

The Special Guest was Catherine Martin, T.D., Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Speaking out Press Pass, she said: “Investment in the development of critical thinking and media literacy in this country is vital, and I am acutely aware of this as Minister for Media.

“The importance of education in meeting the challenges of navigating today’s rapidly changing media environment cannot be understated.”

Students from Moville Community College in Donegal were presented with the overall prize for their student newspaper, TY Times.

According to Michael Foley, Chairman of the Press Pass Judging Panel:

“Despite the very high quality of entries in this year’s competition, the judges were unanimous in choosing this year’s overall winner.

“The team behind Moville Community College’s ‘TY Times’ should be immensely proud of themselves for publishing a student newspaper of such high quality.

“The publication stood out immediately for its attention-grabbing front page excellent news and production values, and wide range of content which included opinion pieces, local news reports, interviews and sports news and features, and even ‘letters to the editor’.

“It is clear that a huge amount of work went in to creating this excellent production so congratulations to the students.”

The other category winners are outlined below and can be read here

Press Pass is a Transition Year student journalism and news literacy programme which has been run by NewsBrands Ireland since 2012.

The free programme, which has been completed by 120,000 students, seeks to teach the fundamentals of journalism writing, improve news literacy and critical thinking skills, and encourage students to analyse content and form opinions about important social issues.

Participating schools receive access to free digital news, a Teacher’s Lesson Plan, and a specially created student workbook.

This year, NewsBrands also teamed up with the Department of Education’s Junior Cycle for Teachers Support ( JCT.ie) to provide webinars and podcasts for teachers which included advise and inspiration from renowned journalist and editors.

In addition, NewsBrands are also rolling a series of journalism workshops in schools which provide an opportunity for students to understand the journalistic process, with opportunities to pitch a news story to the editor, understand media law and ethics, how to verify facts, question everything, and stay well-informed in the digital world.

During the Press Pass module, students are encouraged to engage with newspapers and digital news in the classroom, to analyse the journalism and then to create their own original journalism, the best of which is entered into a national competition.

The judging panel comprises of a group of leading newspaper journalists, which is chaired by Michael Foley, Professor Emeritus of Journalism, TU Dublin.

The Press Photographers Association of Ireland (PPAI) judged the photojournalism category.

Speaking about the awards, Michael Foley said:

“Press Pass is an important news literacy project where students learn about news and its role in society.

“They are also introduced to journalism and what makes good journalism, its place in democracy, about truth and accuracy, about sources, about misinformation and how to spot it, what is ethical journalism, the public interest and why journalism matters.”

Colm O’ Reilly, Chairman  of NewsBrands Ireland, said:

“Sincere congratulations to all our finalists and to the members of the judging panel who took the time to read through the many entries and pick the talented winners.

“A special thank you also to the passionate teachers who teach the Press Pass programme every year.

“This is the 11th year of Press Pass, and as the representative body for news publishers we view this as one of our more important initiatives.

“Our aim is to encourage the next generation of journalists, to help students explore, develop and improve their writing skills, and to help develop news literacy skills for all students – empowering them to become critical consumers of news in all its forms.”

Press Pass 2023 Winners

Overall Winner

Moville Community College for TY Times

Features

1st: Grace De Bhal , Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, Dingle

2nd: Noah Kavanagh, Moville Community College, Donegal

3rd: Beck Fitzgibbon, Clonakilty Community College, Co. Cork

News

1st: Cian Morrison, Coláiste An Chraoibhín

2nd: Oisín Ó Fearghail, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, Dingle

3rd: Sadhbh Kennedy, Pobailscoil Na Trionóide, Youghal

Opinion

Pictured: 1st prize, Opinion – Elyssa Thornhill, Coláiste an Chraoibhín, Fermoy. Picture credit: Paul Sherwood

1st: Elyssa Thornhill, Coláiste an Chraoibhín, Fermoy

2nd: Jara Schaufler, Moville Community College, Donegal

3rd: Neasa O’ Farrell, Coláiste Muire, Ennis

School Newspaper

Pictured: Overall Winner – Moville Community College for TY Times – Cora Cain, Molly Boothroyd, Vilte Karlaite, Aisling Harvey, Amy Bonner, Colm O’Reilly – Chairman of NewsBrands Ireland. Picture credit: Paul Sherwood

1st: TY Times, Moville Community College

2nd: Realtín, Coláiste Muire, Crosshaven

3rd: Banagher Examiner, Banagher College

Photojournalism

Pictured: Photojournalism winners – 2nd place Maya Hogan and 1st place Isabella Danaher, both from Coláiste Muire, Ennis

1st: Isabella Danaher, Coláiste Muire, Ennis

2nd: Maya Hogan, Coláiste Muire, Ennis

3rd: Ava Farrell, St. Mary’s Secondary School, Ballina

Sports Journalism 

1st: Amelia Corcoran, Coláiste Muire, Ennis

2nd: Trina Kennedy, Presentation College, Listowel

3rd: Erin Leech, Moville Community College, Donegal