NUI Galway student newspaper Sin wins National Student Media Awards

The bi-weekly publication among entries from 22 third-level institutions

(L/R) Áine Kenny of NUIG,  Aaron Bowman and Muireann O’Shea of UCD, Dylan O’Neill also of UCD  and Niamh Lynch TCD were among the   finalists for this years student media awards. Photograph:James Forde
(L/R) Áine Kenny of NUIG, Aaron Bowman and Muireann O’Shea of UCD, Dylan O’Neill also of UCD and Niamh Lynch TCD were among the finalists for this years student media awards. Photograph:James Forde

NUI Galway publication Sin was awarded college newspaper of the year at the National Student Media Awards on Thursday night.

The bi-weekly publication has a circulation of 6,000 and is staffed by students from a variety of courses. The newspaper of the year award is sponsored by The Irish Times whose editors helped to judge this year’s submissions.

Hosted by Oxygen.ie, the National Student Media Awards, or Smedias, have 34 categories whose winners were announced during a ceremony at the Aviva Stadium.

There were entries from 22 third level institutions and the colleges that collected the most awards were Dublin City University and University College Dublin, each with five.

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"We're absolutely delighted with both the number and calibre of entries this year," said Ciara Mahon from Oxygen.

“This is our 19th year running the awards, and they just keep growing from strength to strength. We hope the nominees and winners had a fantastic night, and we’re excited already for the 20th anniversary ‘platinum’ Smedias in 2020.”

Other award winners included Ryan Clarke of DCU (sports writer of the year); Gabija Gataveckaite DCU (journalist of the Year); Aoife Walsh, DCU (journalist of the year in national media); Áine Kenny, NUIG (editor of the year) and Sebastian Farron-Mahon, GCD (photographer of the year).

Also celebrating were Sadhbh Sullivan at University College Cork (blog of the year); Jessica Spencer, DIT (radio production of the year, arts and features); DIT Fresher's Magazine (magazine of the year); Paul Hughes, SCFE (sports photographer of the year); and Kevin Newcomen, CDCFE (news photographer of the year).

In radio, awards went to Jesse Melia, DIT (radio documentary); Ivan Smyth and Ronan Coughlan, University of Limerick (radio production of the year); and Patrick Power, UCD (radio journalist).

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard is a reporter with The Irish Times