Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards Announced
Domhnall O’Donoghue presented with the Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Award at a ceremony held to coincide with the annual Holiday World Show, which took place at the RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin this weekend.
There were nine other winners, each for different holidaying categories, announced this evening at an awards dinner in Thomas Prior Hall, Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge which was attended by the cream of Irish travel and tourism writers and broadcasters. The event was sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Office and Visit Valencia. The award winners were chosen by a distinguished panel of senior Irish journalists. The submissions displayed the creativity and innovation of travel and tourism journalism in Ireland.
The category winners were:
Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards 2023
Best Home market (Ireland) – Sponsored by Fáilte Ireland
Winner: Pól Ó Conghaile for his entries ‘Off-Radar Roscommon’, ‘Call of the Wildlands’ and ‘Bewitched by the Beara’ for Irish Independent Weekend Magazine and ‘A pub lovers guide to Cork City’ for nationalgeographic.com.
Best Northern Ireland – Sponsored by Tourism Northern Ireland
Winner: Chrissie Russell for ‘Gold Star glamping in the sperrins’ published in The Sunday Independent.
Best Long Haul – Sponsored by Cassidy Travel
Winner: Gemma Tipton for two entries ‘Sailing the Spice Islands’ and ‘A Cruise with Cargo’ published in The Irish Times.
Best Short Haul (including Sun holidays & City Breaks) – Sponsored by Sunway & Constantinou Bros Hotels Cyprus
Winner: Joe Coyle for ‘Shake your senses with trip to Lisbon’ and ‘Mini Malta punches as the empire strikes back’ published in The Irish Independent.
Best Adventure – Sponsored by UWalk.ie
Winner: Rosita Boland for Conversations on loss from Greece to Cambodia published in The Irish Times.
Best Skiing – Sponsored by Topflight & Andorra Tourism
Winner: Catherine Murphy for ski features she wrote for Irish Daily Mail, Sunday Independent, Business Post Magazine, and Irish Independent Weekend magazine and evoke.ie
New category – Best Sustainable – Sponsored by Spanish Tourism Office and Cádiz Tourism
Winner: Domhnall O’Donoghue for “Stay it Forward in Panama City Beach” published in The Belfast Telegraph.
Best Broadcasting – Sponsored by TUI
Winner: Fionn Dovenport for Dublin’s Spookiest Places on Newstalk106.
Best Digital Media – Sponsored by Click&Go
Winner: Tom Sweeney for his travel blogs ‘Cycling in Amsterdam is a Dutch of Class’, ‘Malta, the tiny island that promises fun in the sun for all ages’ and ‘Cartoons, cognac and cabin cruisers in charming Charentes’. All published on the blog www.tomsweeneytravelwriter.com.
The Gerry O’Hare Memorial Award for Best Newcomer Journalist – Sponsored by Malta Tourism Authority
Winner: Fionnuala Walsh for her entry ‘Living the van life in Oz’ published in Irish Independent Weekend Magazine.
Travel Extra Journalist of the Year – Sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Office and Visit Valencia Board
Winner: Domhnall O’Donoghue for a collection of entries published in The Sunday Times, Ireland of the Welcomes, Belfast Telegraph, Womans Way and familytraveller.com.
A unanimous choice with the judges for his engagement, power to draw his audience in.
This year’s event also hosted the presentation of The Holiday World Show Young Writer of the Year award sponsored by Stena Line to transition year student in Tallaght Community School, Szymon Mularski, aged 16.
