Trinity College’s University Times named Newspaper of the Year

National Student Media Awards held in public for the first time since 2019

The Student Media Awards (Smedias), The Irish Times sponsor the National Newspaper category. Pictured is Emer Moreau, University Times. Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times
The Student Media Awards (Smedias), The Irish Times sponsor the National Newspaper category. Pictured is Emer Moreau, University Times. Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times

Trinity College Dublin's University Times has been crowned Newspaper of the Year at the 2022 National Student Media Awards.

At a ceremony in the capital’s Aviva Stadium - the first public gathering for the so-called Smedias since the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2019 - Trinity took home seven of the 35 awards on offer.

The University Times, founded in 2009, claims 150,000 online readers a month and distributes its print newspaper to campus buildings and locations in central Dublin every three weeks.

The Newspaper of the Year Award was sponsored by The Irish Times.

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Judges for the 22nd annual awards ceremony included The Irish Times Health Editor Paul Cullen, author Anne Griffin and director and screenwriter Robbie Walsh.

At the event on Thursday night, there was a four-way tie for the top individual student winners.

Valerie McHugh of NUI Galway, Ellen Kenny and Charles Alexander Moody-Stuart, both of Trinity, and Katie Hackett of Technical University Dublin (TUD) each clinched two awards.

Elizabeth Hunt, of NUI Galway, was named Editor of the Year Award for her work on Ethereal Magazine, the first time the award was given to a magazine editor.

Journalist of the Year was Sophie Finn, of University College Dublin.

In two recently added categories, Podcast of the Year was won by Katie Hackett of TUD while the Journalism Relating to Travel award was taken home by Trinity’s Charles Alexander Moody-Stuart.

Hosted by Oxygen.ie, the Smedias showcase journalism across radio and television production, as well as in writing, and are judged by prominent figures within the Irish industry.