Double award for Spotlight
Spotlight's
"A Lost Boy" has been named Northern Ireland's Current Affairs
Programme of the Year at the 2009 CIPR journalism awards in Belfast.
The programme investigated the 1973 murder of 10-year-old Brian McDermott, whose dismembered remains were found days after he disappeared from his Belfast home. The judges said "A Lost Boy" - presented by Darragh MacIntyre and produced by Mary McKeagney - was a "compelling piece of TV" and was an "investigation of a shocking story".
This is the third year in a row that Spotlight has won the award.
Darragh
was also recognised as the TV News and Current Affairs Broadcaster
of the Year for his reports on the Brian McDermott murder and the
Omagh fire tragedy, for Spotlight, and on the Heathrow expansion plans,
for Panorama.
The judges described Darragh as “an accomplished researcher and storyteller”.
“Darragh does what it says on the current affairs brief, telling us what we did not already know about issues which should concern us,” they said.
“That he does this across a range of topics, from a cold case murder to a family fire tragedy to the controversial Heathrow expansion project, is impressive.”
(The CIPR awards are the Coca-Cola Chartered Institute of Public Relations awards).