The London Editor of The Irish Times was yesterday named Print Journalist of the Year at the ESB National Media Awards ceremony in Dublin.
The judges said Frank Millar won the award "for his authoritative reporting of the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement and the events flowing from it, combined with his incisive analysis of the relationships between all the parties involved in this, the most important news story of the year".
The award for outstanding journalism in the features category went to Lara Marlowe, Paris Correspondent of The Irish Times.
She received the award "for her extraordinary work in reporting the civil war in Algeria and for raising awareness of a war that was in many respects almost forgotten".
The judges said: "Her pieces in The Irish Times have at all times been provocative and informative, and, in the best traditions of war correspondents, have succeeded in taking war and portraying it, as it is seen, both through the eyes of the combatants and the ordinary people whose lives are destroyed by it."
The overall award - Journalist of the Year - was shared by Charlie Bird and George Lee of RTE for "opening the door on a series of banking and tax scandals". The Young Journalist of the Year award went to Kathy Donaghy of Ireland on Sunday.
Presenting the awards, the President, Mrs McAleese (a former journalist), spoke of the importance of using language with sensitivity and of striving for objectivity.
She said journalists must often feel theirs was a thankless task and their daily grind not always appreciated.
She said the support for Ireland and the peace process abroad was due to journalists telling a story. The coverage of the carnage of Omagh showed the media's softer, gentler side, but she warned that the speed of putting stories into print or on air and the need to be first should not undermine standards. Quality must be maintained, she said.
The former Ombudsman and Irish Press political correspondent, Mr Michael Mills, who chaired the judging panel, paid special tribute to RTE for breaking new ground by running with an exclusive and controversial story about banking institutions and their secret operation.
"As a result of this groundbreaking work by RTE other banking and tax scandals emerged and the public awoke to discover that large numbers of people in our society have a very cavalier attitude to paying their taxes."
"Hopefully as a result of your good work, people who show contempt for our tax laws will not be able to sleep so easily in the future," he said.