Joe Brennan wins Business News Story of the Year award

The Irish Times markets correspondent Joe Brennan won the Business News Story of the Year award at the 14th UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards on Monday.

The awards, which recognise excellence in business journalism – in print, broadcast and online formats – were run in conjunction with the Business Journalists Association of Ireland.

Mr Brennan won the award for breaking the story of NatWest’s decision to wind down Ulster Bank in the Republic as it struggled to turn around a business dealing with high costs, low profitability, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Irish Times reporters Laura Slattery and Charlie Taylor were nominated for the Business Interview of the Year and Business Feature of the Year awards respectively.

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The Currency scooped three awards as Tom Lyons won Business Feature of the Year and the Upcoming Journalist of the Year award went to Devin Sean Martin.

The group also claimed the Outstanding Achievement in Industry Award for its “ground-breaking work in championing long-form business journalism on a digital platform in Ireland”.

Business Post reporter Killian Woods won two awards as he was named Specialist Business Reporter of the Year and received the Business Interview of the Year award.

The Business Podcast of the Year was won by Gavin McLoughlin of Newstalk.

In addition, an Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Dearbhail McDonald for her contribution to journalism. Over the past 20 years, Ms McDonald has written prolifically about legal affairs, religious affairs, health, politics and business.

She has also written about diversity and inclusion, including gender equality, an issue she has raised with the Future of Media Commission, in her capacity as a co-founder of the Equality Expert Group and through her association with organisations such as Women on Air.

This year’s independent panel of judges was chaired by Breege O’Donoghue, Primark brand ambassador; and was comprised of academic, journalistic and business representatives.