October NUI Galway Student Receives Press Council of Ireland Award

NUI Galway student Jemima Burke was awarded joint-second place at the recent Bursary Awards of the Press Council of Ireland. The bursary awards are run annually and open to all students of media, journalism and communications in universities and colleges.

Jemima, from Castlebar, Co. Mayo recently completed a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and will graduate from NUI Galway at the conferring ceremonies next week.

Jemima receives her award of €500 for a series of features articles which were published in the Connacht Telegraph. The subjects of her articles were quite disparate, from a Belarusian woman now living in a small village in Mayo, to a young farmer’s hopes for the future, to a retired national school teacher who now offers Irish language classes to adults, to the role that tennis played in making a Dublin woman feel at home in Castlebar. All features stories told in a light and engaging manner with imagination and energy.

Speaking at the event Seán Donlon, Chairman of the Press Council, said that in spite of the difficulties facing journalism today it was heartening to see so many good students undertaking journalism courses. He said that the standard of work submitted for the Bursary Awards was impressive and that he looked forward to seeing the winners’ by-lines in years to come.

-Ends-