THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS of Ireland organisation has announced the launch of its new journalism awards.

The is the first national journalism awards initiative launched by the organisation and is for work published in any NNI or NNI local and regional title between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011.

The NNI says the awards are “to honour and celebrate the work of the writers who inform, entertain and sometimes provoke Ireland’s 2.9 million newspaper readers”.

There are a number of categories, including:

• National Journalist of the Year
• Regional Journalist of the Year
• Feature Writer of the Year
• Columnist / Commentator of the Year
• Newspapers in Education Initiative / Supplement
• Young Journalist of the Year
• Sports Journalist of the Year
• Business & Economics Journalist of the Year
• Political Journalist of the Year
• Showbiz Story of the Year
• Scoop of the Year
• Best Design & Presentation
• Special Award – Contribution to Newspaper Industry

The judging panel will include Michael Brophy, who is the Chief Executive of Independent News and Media Northern Ireland, PJ Cunningham, former Deputy Editor of the Sunday Tribune and Evening Herald; Aine Hegarthy, Deputy News Editor of the Irish Daily mirror, and Fintan O’Toole, Assistant Editor and columnist with the Irish Times.

Details on how to enter the awards are available here.