Bryan O'Brien of The Irish Times has won the Eircell Press Photographer of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
Irish Times photographers dominated last night's awards ceremony, winning 11 out of 26 prizes. The awards were presented by the actor Gabriel Byrne in UCD.
Mr O'Brien's overall award was based on his portfolio of work over the previous 12 months. He also won second prize in the award's Political and Features categories and third prize in the News category.
Photographers from this newspaper took first, second and third prize in the News category.
Brenda Fitzsimons won first prize in the News category while her colleague, Frank Miller, took second prize. Ms Fitzsimons, the only woman honoured in the awards, also took third prize in the People category.
The Sports category was won by David Sleator from this newspaper while Gerry Mooney, an Evening Herald freelance, took second place and also won the Features category.
Brendan Murphy from the Irish News won the People category and also won an award for the Most Humorous Photograph.
Kenneth O'Halloran from the Irish Independent won first prize in the Individual Study category and second prize in the Picture Story category. His colleague, Steve Humphries, won the Political category.
The Clare Champion was the only regional newspaper to win an award. John C. Kelly took first prize in the Arts category for his work in the newspaper. Second prize was won by Matt Kavanagh, an Irish Times photographer.
The awards also honoured a publication outside Ireland. David Kinsella of the St Petersburg Express in Russia won the Picture Story category.
Inpho, the photo agency, took four awards, three of which were won by Billy Stickland. Patrick Bolger took the other award, coming second in the Individual Study category. Other awards were won by Michael McSweeney, Provision agency, and Nick Bradshaw, a freelance.
This year the competition attracted more than 1,000 entries, which were judged by Ms Sara Rumens, editorial director of Magnum in London, and photographer John Reardon.
Dr Pat Donlon, former head of the National Library, chaired the judging panel.
The judges also selected over 100 of the best entries for inclusion in a travelling exhibition.
Praising the winners' achievements, Mr Stephen Brewer, Eircell chief executive, said : "Photographers provide us with an image of our humanity and ourselves. They allow us to look and see ourselves as others do."
The winners of the Eircell Press Photographers Awards were as follows:
Eircell Press Photographer of the Year: Bryan O'Brien.
News Category: 1st: Brenda Fitzsimons, The Irish Times; 2nd: Frank Miller, The Irish Times; 3rd: Bryan O'Brien, The Irish Times.
Sport Category: 1st: David Sleator, The Irish Times; 2nd: Gerry Mooney, Evening Herald freelance; 3rd: Billy Stickland, Inpho.
Features Category: 1st: Gerry Mooney, Evening Herald freelance; 2nd: Bryan O'Brien, The Irish Times; 3rd: David Sleator, The Irish Times.
People Category: 1st: Brendan Murphy, the Irish News; 2nd: Billy Stickland, Inpho; 3rd: Brenda Fitzsimons, The Irish Times.
Individual Study Category: 1st: Kenneth O'Halloran, the Irish Independent; 2nd: Patrick Bolger, Inpho; 3rd: Billy Stickland, Inpho.
Arts Category: 1st: John C. Kelly, the Clare Champion; 2nd: Matt Kavanagh, The Irish Times; 3rd: Michael McSweeney, Provision.
Picture Story Category: 1st: David Kinsella, St Petersburg Express, Russia; 2nd: Kenneth O'Halloran, the Irish Independent; 3rd: Nick Bradshaw, freelance.
Political Category: 1st: Steve Humphries, the Irish Independent; 2nd: Bryan O'Brien, The Irish Times; 3rd: David Sleator, The Irish Times.
Most Humorous Photograph of the Year: Brendan Murphy, the Irish News.
