Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland has won an award at the Shine Mental Health Media Awards for her investigative reporting into the historic institutional confinement of people in the country’s State-run asylums.
Ms Holland won the “print and online, national category” at the awards for her news feature published last April.
In the article, she interviewed survivors, their families and former staff of the State’s psychiatric hospitals over several decades in what was the largest mass confinement of people outside the penal justice system in Irish history.
The awards recognise excellence in media coverage of mental issues, reflecting the challenges, experiences and realities of people living with mental ill health.
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The event was organised by Shine, a national charity that supports people with experience of mental illness and their family members and supporters.
Shine said Ms Holland was recognised for “her powerful and compassionate reporting on Ireland’s State-run asylums”.
Ann Murphy, a reporter at the Irish Examiner, part of The Irish Times Group, was inaugural winner of mental health champion award for her sustained commitment to covering mental health issues.
She had also been nominated in the print and online, national category for an article, Why prison is no place for the mentally ill.
Three other Irish Times journalists were nominated for awards.
Sports writer Malachy Clerkin was nominated in the “print and online, special interest” category for his feature article published in September on how the GAA is working to prevent suicide.
News reporter Órla Ryan was nominated for the “Refugee Mental Health Award” for her report on families struggling to find alternative accommodation after being told to leave International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres in Dublin.
Irish Times contributor Emer McLysaght was nominated for the “Special Recognition Award”, which recognises those who share their lived experience to educate wider audiences.
