Shortlist for Mary Raftery Prize announced

The shortlist for the Mary Raftery Prize has been announced. Launched in January, the prize is an annual journalism industry award established by DCU. It is awarded to an individual or small team for producing journalistic work on the island of Ireland that in the judges view, combines the rigorous analysis and commitment to social justice which characterised Mary Raftery’s journalism.

The late Mary Raftery was a groundbreaking journalist whose work resulted in the establishment of government Commissions of Inquiry into the industrial school system and the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. 

Over the course of her career, Raftery tackled a range of social affairs issues from planning to property speculation, the drugs trade and environmental pollution. In 1985 she was named as the “Woman Journalist of the Year” for her documentary on the mistreatment of patients in Irish psychiatric hospitals. 

The prize, which consists of a medal engraved with the winner’s name and an award of €1,000, is funded by a bequest from the estate of Mary Raftery and is sponsored by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). 

It is administered by the DCU’s School of Communications.

The shortlisted entries are:

Crechés: Behind Closed Doors – by the RTÉ Investigations Unit (Doireann O’Hara, Aoife Hegarty and Paul Maguire)

No Child 2020 – from The Irish Times (Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, Fintan O’Toole, Kitty Holland, Conor Goodman)

The case of Majella Moynihan – RTÉ Documentary on One (Aoife Kelleher, Sarah Blake and Liam O’Brien)

Spotlight on Domestic Violence – from the Westmeath Independent (Geraldine Grennan)

Enough is Enough-No Excuses and Open Your Eyes to STIs – by Beat 102 103 (Michelle Heffernan)

Homelessness – from The Irish Times (Kitty Holland)

Stardust - podcast from The Journal (Sean Murray, Nicky Ryan and Christine Bohan)

A bridge too far - from Noteworthy (Maria Delaney and Ken Foxe)