McVitty wins major regional photography award

Editorial Department • Published 17 Jun 2010 16:00 0 Comments

Photographer John McVitty's work has been recognised again with a major award.

John was voted Northern Ireland Regional Press Photographer of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in the Europa Hotel, Belfast on Friday evening.

The Chartered Instite of Public Relations evening was hosted by BBC Breakfast's Bill Turnbull, who read out John's citation praising the quality and newsworthiness of the Impartial Reporter man's pictures.

"The winning regional photographer produced some really strong images. These included a shot full of raw emotion of two brothers suffering from the same incurable illness. The judges also particularly liked the picture of the shed under water," said the BBC man.

There was double success for Fermanagh at the prestigious awards, with Fermanagh tv receiving the award for the digital innovation of the year. It was a major achievement for the organisation considering the range of competition against all the broadcast, newspapers and magazine outlets they were up against.

Fermanagh tv video journalists Niall McCracken and Aislinn Hagan jointly received the award, and were given special mention in the judges' citation.

Fermanagh tv is the brainchild of former Enniskillen man, Trevor Birney who added the innovation to his television production operation "Below the Radar."

The judges praised the project saying that it "was set up to give a voice to a very local community, a voice that in the past was often not heard on the major broadcasting outlets."

"This is something like the tale of Jack the Giant Killer, with a tiny organisation going head to head with its heavyweight competitors and their depth of resources. The winner has used innovation, the latest technology, some imaginative business ideas plus a heavy sprinkling of what people love to call 'good old-fashioned journalism' to create a unique product that is serving its community well," the judges added.

"The website set out to give an online voice to an area that is often neglected by the major broadcasters and it has been rewarded by loyalty and interest from generations more attuned to their laptops and iPhones than their television sets or local newspapers.

"The cross-fertilisation with the print product may help one of Northern Ireland's best local newspapers, The Impartial Reporter, to survive in an increasingly difficult market for the regional press. It's also an impressive use of Lottery funding.

"The creation of a unique digital history of Fermanagh that's growing by the day, will be a superb resource to local historians and other people, including school-children, for years to come.

"In times of crisis, disasters and major news stories when people crave instant information, many people reach for their TV controls or newspapers but the younger generation go to the internet with its social networking sites which the winner has sensibly incorporated.

"With a wide variety of channels, links to the local council and local amenities, the website caters for real people living real lives, covering areas of interest that they wouldn't find elsewhere. The two video reporters should be given special mention, but it really is a superb team effort from this year's winner of the Digital Innovation of the Year category, Fermanagh TV."

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 17 Jun 10

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