Five awards for Mediahuis Ireland writers at Travel Extra awards

Mediahuis Ireland writers scooped five awards at the Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards on Friday night.

ector Ó hEochagáin was presented with the overall Travel Extra Journalist of the Year Award at an awards dinner in Thomas Prior Hall, Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge.

Mediahuis travel writers took the honours in categories including ‘Best Northern Ireland’, ‘Best Long Haul’, ‘Best Adventure’, ‘Best Skiing’ and ‘Best Digital Media’.

The Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday World and Independent.ie were among the winners for 2022.

Deirdre Reynolds for the Sunday World, Isabel Conway for the Sunday Independent, Julie Taylor for the  I rish Independent, Catherine Murphy for the Sunday Independent and Irish Independent, and Tom Sweeney for Independent.ie were all awarded accolades for travel writing.

The 10 overall winners were crowned within different holidaying categories, chosen by a distinguished panel of senior Irish journalists, who said the submissions “displayed the creativity and innovation of travel and tourism journalism in Ireland”.

The event was sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Office and Lanzarote Tourist Board.

The category winners were as follows:

Best Home market (Ireland) – Sponsored by Fáilte Ireland

Winner: Yvonne Gordon for two pieces featuring Mayo, ‘Ireland’s loneliest wilderness, Wild Nephin National Park’ for BBC Travel and ‘What ancient secrets lie beneath little-known Irish bog?’ for National Geographic Travel

Best Northern Ireland – Sponsored by Tourism Northern Ireland

Winner: Deirdre Reynolds for the Sunday World Magazine – ‘River of Dreams’ and a second entry ‘Cliffs side capers’.

Best Long Haul – Sponsored by Cassidy Travel

Winner: Isabel Conway for her two entries – ‘Southern Hospitality in the Birthplace of the Blues’ for the Business Post; and ‘Sands of time that eternally surprise’ for the Sunday Independent.

Best Short Haul (including Sun holidays & City Breaks) – Sponsored by Sunway & Hotel Fariones

Winner: Jamie Ball for ‘Cycling in Denmark is this Europe most bike friendly country?’ published in the Irish Times; and ‘Perfect for pedalling’ published in the Sunday Times Ireland Edition.

Best Adventure – Sponsored by UWalk.ie

Winner: Julie Taylor for ‘The climb was like an out of body experience’ published in the Irish Independent Weekend magazine.

Best Skiing – Sponsored by Topflight & Gastein Tourist Board Austria

Winner: Catherine Murphy for ski features she wrote for Irish Daily Mail, Sunday Independent, Business Post Magazine, and Irish Independent Weekend magazine.

Best Broadcasting – Sponsored by TUI

Winner: Hector Ó hEochagáin for Hector: Balkans go Baltics which aired on TG4.

Best Digital Media – Sponsored by Click&Go

Winner: Mediahuis Ireland chief sub-editor Tom Sweeney for his travel blogs ‘Discover the delights of northern Spain’ and ‘Top dishes to try when you visit Spain’. Both published on the blog www.tomsweeneytravelwriter.com.

The Gerry O’Hare Memorial Award for Best Newcomer Journalist – Sponsored by Malta Tourism Authority

Winner: Sarah Pickering for her entries published in NI Travel News.

Travel Extra Journalist of the Year – Sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Office and Lanzarote tourism

Winner: Hector Ó hEochagáin

A unanimous choice with the judges for his engagement, power to draw his audience in and knowledge of the area he was reporting on.