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GAZETTE
N E W S
JULY/AUGUST 1993
Inaugural Justice Media Awards
Presented
Anne O'Carroll, a freelance journalist from Cork who was the overall winner of the Inaugural
Justice Media Awards Competition, with the President of the Law Society, Raymond Monahan.
At a ceremony on 9 July, awards were
presented to the winners of the inaugur-
al (1992/93) Justice Media Awards
Competition organised by the Law
Society and sponsored by Aer Lingus.
The President of the Law Society,
Raymond Monahan
, announced that the
overall winner of the Justice Media
Awards Competition was
Anne
O'Carroll
for a series of articles
designed to demystify the legal system
which were published in
Consumer
Choice
magazine. Anne O'Carroll is a
freelance journalist based in Eyeries,
Beara, Co. Cork. She writes frequently
for the
Cork Examiner
and the
Sunday
Business Post.
Ms. O'Carroll and her
publisher receive an expenses paid trip
to New York to attend the Gavel Awards
Ceremony at the Annual Conference of
the American Bar Association, which
takes place on 10 August next.
In addition, three Justice Media
Awards were presented, to:-
• Mark Smith,
a journalist with the
Sunday Independent,
for an article
entitled "When Speaking Out
Means Courting Danger" in which
the excesses and inadequacies of the
current law of libel were analysed.
• Fintan O'Toole,
a journalist with the
Irish Times,
for his coverage of the
highly complex legal issues raised
by the Beef Tribunal and his ability
to explain these points of law to the
general public.
• Gene Kerrigan
of the
Sunday
Independent
for articles he
published over the past year
concerning the case of
Nicky Kelly
which exposed some uncomfortable
inconsistencies about the case.
Certificates of Merit were presented to:
• Breda Joy,
a journalist with
The
Kerryman
for an article entitled
"Kerry Juries and Their Willingness
to Convict".
• Vincent Gribbin,
a journalist with
The Western People
for his articles:
"Glenamaddo Commonage, An
Issue That Refuses to Die".
• Irish Press
journalist,
Kate
Shanahan,
for her book "Crimes
Worse than Death".
In his address to the awards ceremony,
the President of the Society,
Raymond
Monahan,
said: "The Law Society's
purpose in establishing the Justice
Media Awards Competition was to
encourage excellence in the media in its
performance of the vitally important
function of informing the public about
the law and reporting and analysing
legal affairs generally." The Society's
President said that the media played an
important role in helping to expose
both the failures of the legal system and
the laws and legal practices which
required reform in the public interest.
There was also a huge agenda of reform
required in the legal system and it was
essential that the media described and
articulated that reform agenda.
He continued: "I think I speak for the
vast majority of solicitors when I say
that as lawyers we realise that we too
have duties in this regard. Aside from
the day-to-day pressures of running our
practices and dealing with our clients'
problems, we must concern ourselves
with wider issues of justice. Therefore,
from time to time, we speak out on
issues that we believe affecA the rights
and entitlements of citizens. We are
grateful to the media when they give us
an outlet to do so."
The awards ceremony was attended by
the Minister for State at the Department
of Justice,
William O'Dea,
who
announced that a new Solicitors Bill
would be introduced in the Dail in the
Autumn.
Raymond Monahan announced that the
1993/1994 Justice Media Awards
Competition was being widened to
include the broadcast media as well as
the print media and additional
classifications of news photographs
and cartoons were also being included.
The President said that the Society and
the members of the Justice Media
Awards Standing Committee had been
delighted by the response from the
media to the competition and the high
calibre of entries received and would
be continuing the competition for the
foreseeable future.
Barbara Cahalane
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