Irishtimes.com is ‘Most Influential Irish Website Ever’

The Waterford Whispers News satirical website and irishtimes.com were the big winners at Thursday night’s annual Realex Payments Web Awards.

The Irish Times/irishtimes.com received the Most Influential Irish Website Ever award while Waterford Whispers News won best daily publication and the overall best website in Ireland award.

There were also awards for a number of health websites - BreastFeeding.ie, LetsGetChecked.ie and Chronic-Disease.ie - which “reflects the growing trend where people take more control of their health”, according to organisers.

Other winners included Silicon Republic, which was awarded best science and technology site, and 98FM which won the best media site.

Organisers said approximately 500 people attended the awards, which was hosted by 2FM’s Rick O’Shea in the RDS.

‘Outstanding as usual’

Realex Payments head of marketing Martin O’Leary said entries were “outstanding as usual” and that they were “delighted to see The Irish Times recognised as Ireland’s most influential website”.

Organiser Damien Mulley said this year had the most diverse and greatest number of entries, and that the “many first-time winners reflects the evolving and growing web community in Ireland”.

From next year, the Web Awards will be split into an eCommerce Awards and Website and Content awards.