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Thursday, 13 April 2023

UL journalism students have secured a record number of nominations in the National Student Media Awards. Limerick Voice, the award-winning multimedia news platform, has received nominations in a number of different categories including, Best Newspaper, Best Layout and Design and Website of the Year.  Limerick Voice Social Media Manager, Aishlin Hennigan has also been nominated for Editor of the Year alongside third year journalism student Molly Cantwell who was editor of Curious Magazine in 2022. 

Third year UL journalism student Joe Drennan has nominated for Journalist of the Year National Media for the work he produced as part of his work placement with Gay Community News.  

UL journalism students are represented in 14 separate categories in the SMEDIAS 2023 including: 

  • Newspaper of the Year – Limerick Voice  
  • Website of the year – Limerick Voice  
  • Layout and Design – Limerick Voice  
  • Editor of the Year – Aishlin Hennigan (Social Media Editor Limerick Voice), Molly Cantwell (Editor Curoious Magazine) 
  • Journalism Relating to Health – Ellen Cornelius and Rachel Pettricrew (Fourth year Journalism) 
  • Features Writer of the Year Arts and Pop Culture – Aishlinn Kelly (Fourth year Jouranalism) 
  • Journalist of the Year National Media – Joe Drennan (Second Year Journalism) 
  • Collaborative Journalism – Ellen Gough and Rebecca Lenihan (Fourth year Journalism) 
  • Magazine of the year – Establish (Second year journalism students class of 2023); Curious (Second year journalism class of 2022) 
  • Small Publication of the Year - Curious (Second year journalism class 2022) 
  • Radio Production of the Year, News and Current Affairs – Ellen Cornelius, Rachel Petticrew, Siadbh Redmond and Ann McDonald (fourth year); Caleb Brennan (fourth year journalism students)  

The National Student Media Awards or the SMEDIAS as they are known, is the largest competition of its kind in Ireland dedicated to recognising and celebrating the next generation of media talent. Open to students from every college across Ireland the awards are judged by key media industry leaders including Mark Hennessey, News Editor of The Irish Times. 

“It’s great to see so many nominations for students across our journalism programme in UL from second year right up to final year. Our students are already being recognised by national media industry figures who are involved in the judging process for the SMEDIAS so this is a wonderful validation, particularly for those entering the world of work in the coming weeks,” said Kathryn Hayes, Course Director BA Journalism and Digital Communication.