Ratoath student's award for McGregor photos
Griffith College student David Fogarty from Ratoath took home the Student Media Award (Smedia) for Sports Photographer of the Year.
David (26) is a third year student in Griffith College studying the BA in Photographic Media. David won Sports Photographer of the Year for his photos documenting Conor McGregor, Mixed Martial Artist (MMA), ahead of his UFC fight against Nate Diaz.
In its 16th year, the Smedias is a key event for any media student across Ireland. Students work is judged by a panel of experts within Irish media. The Smedia award itself is coveted by students as it's seen as an important indicator of the quality of their work for future employers.
The Journalism and Media Communications faculty at Griffith is extremely proud of the students' success, commenting that: 'Punching way above our weight in numbers, and proof that our small class sizes, our balance of academic full-time lecturers and part-time professional media practitioner lecturers is a winning combination.'
Dave Fogarty beat out stiff competition to walk away with the title of ‘Sports Photographer of the Year’ at this year’s KBC National Student Media Awards. Dave, who is a European Champion in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, currently works for an online website called Severe MMA and describes his passions as both mixed martial art and photography.
RTÉ’s Eoghan McDermott was MC and with over 500 students in attendance, they were given the opportunity to mingle with leading personalities in the media industry such as Lorraine Keane, Dave Fanning, Marty Morrissey and Miss Universe Ireland Joanne Cooper. Others who presented awards on the night included RTÉ’s Teresa Mannion, and UTV’s Alison Comyn.
The judging panel for the awards included top industry names such as editor of the Irish Independent, Fionnan Sheahan, news editor of the Irish Times, Mark Hennessy, RTÉ’s head of comedy, talent development and music, Eddie Doyle, Garret Harte, editor in chief of Newstalk, chairperson of TG4 and the CEO of Ardmore Studios, Siun Ni Raghallaigh.
UCC was the big winner on the night, gathering an impressive eight awards; Short Story of the Year, Blog of the Year, Magazine of the Year, Colour Writer of the Year, Features Writer of the Year – Arts and Pop Culture, Features Writer of the Year – News and Current Affairs, European Commission Award and finally Editor of the Year. Trailing behind UCC were UCD, Griffith College and University of Limerick.
Oxygen.ie, who organise the awards, are the biggest student website in Ireland, with a current membership of 100,000.