Entries will open next week for the 2021 NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards, which are open to any journalism from print, online, video or audio from any NewsBrands Ireland member title from 12 July.

The competition, which is sponsored by the National Lottery, will award journalists across 23 categories, encompassing all disciplines of the modern journalistic field.

Last year, the Irish Farmers Journal claimed one of the top awards when business editor Lorcan Allen was named the 2020 Business Journalist of the Year for his series on Larry Goodman's business empire.

The Irish Farmers Journal is a firm believer in the fact that #JournalismMatters when it comes to all aspects of the agricultural industry and this year took part in a campaign to highlight how quality journalism can help farmers and the industry.

Showcase

“Our annual journalism awards are an important showcase for the agenda-setting, trusted journalism produced by our member titles.

"This year, news journalists continued to break important stories which were in the public interest,” commented NewsBrands Ireland CEO Ann Marie Lenihan.

An independent judging panel will be chaired by former editor of the Irish Examiner Tim Vaughan and will decide shortlist entries and agree upon each category winner.

“It is important that we honour the ground-breaking work of our journalists and editorial teams each year.

"The trusted, fact-checked journalism produced by our members is growing all the time and is now reaching 2.8m readers every week,” commented NewsBrands Ireland chair Colm O’Reilly.

“Our country has always had a long and proud tradition of producing outstanding journalism and these awards rightly recognise the journalists who perform a vital public service through ground-breaking reporting at a time when we need it most,” said National Lottery chief marketing officer Paul Dervan.

Entries to the competition will close on 30 July and only stories published between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021 are eligible for entry.