{"id":324522,"date":"2026-02-07T03:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/324522\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:31:09","slug":"a-worthy-champion-for-all-photographers-irish-independents-mark-condren-wins-record-seventh-press-photographer-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/324522\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A worthy champion for all photographers\u2019 \u2013 Irish Independent\u2019s Mark Condren wins record seventh Press Photographer of the Year award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\" data-testid=\"title-summary\">Gerry Mooney, another Irish Independent photographer, won in the Public Relations category\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">More than 100 images and videos were reviewed across 11 categories at the 48th instalment of the awards, hosted by Miriam O\u2019Callaghan at O\u2019Reilly Hall in UCD.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cIn a very strong field, this photographer\u2019s work nonetheless stood out,\u201d the judging panel said of Mr Condren\u2019s photos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cThey presented an exceptional range of subject matter across multiple categories, which instantly provoked interest and admiration for the superb skill and judgment on display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cIconic moments of human \u00adsuffering and human joy elevate the work of this press photographer beyond the immediate and the graphic, provoking reflections on our contemporary world at a time of chaos and of great change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Acknowledging the increasing infringement of \u201cAI-generated doubt\u201d on the art of photography, David Branigan, president of Press Photographers Ireland, described Mr Condren\u2019s work as \u201ca reminder of the need not only for truthful images, but also technical skills and creativity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">He added: \u201cWinning this sought-after award makes him a worthy champion for all photographers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gerry Mooney and Mark Condren last night\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gerry Mooney Mark Condren.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Gerry Mooney and Mark Condren last night<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Mr Condren also finished first place in the Daily Life and People, Portrait, Nature and the Environment, and Arts and Entertainment categories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">In addition, he received a second-place award in the Portrait category, and third-place awards in the Politics and Multimedia categories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Mr Condren, from Castletownroche, Co Cork, is renowned for his expert, cutting-edge imagery and human-interest photography.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">He started his career in local newspaper The Avondhu before stints at The Corkman and the Sunday Tribune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Another winner on the night was Gerry Mooney, also of the Irish Independent, who won the award for Best Public Relations photo for his image of Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon struggling to lead Simmental cattle at the launch of the 2025 National Ploughing Championship last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">AIB chief executive Colin Hunt praised the \u201coutstanding work\u201d of all entrants, saying \u201cthey hold a mirror up to our villages and townlands\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"'Ministerial Struggle': Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon with Tiger Lilly and Tempting Tessa at the launch of the 2025 National Ploughing Championships. Photo: Gerry Mooney\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/les _ GERRY MOONEYA.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">&#8216;Ministerial Struggle&#8217;: Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon with Tiger Lilly and Tempting Tessa at the launch of the 2025 National Ploughing Championships. Photo: Gerry Mooney<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said: \u201cIn 2026, we live in a world of increasing disinformation and where truth is so often under attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cThe photojournalism skills exhibited here have never been more important because the threat to authenticity has never been as profound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Notable victors across the categories were Niall Carson of PA in News, Morgan Treacy of INPHO in Sports Action, Tom Honan from the Irish Daily Mail in Politics, and freelancer Michael McLaughlin in Multimedia and Best Use of Technology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The judging panel consisted of former EU Ombudsman Emily O\u2019Reilly, photo-book creator Kate Horgan, UK-based photographer Kieran Doherty and Multimedia category judge Philip Bromwell from RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerry Mooney, another Irish Independent photographer, won in the Public Relations category More than 100 images and videos&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[41023,9,10,109750,18,13,14,6,19,17,26736,125,11,12,15,16,30839,69608,5,1181,7,8,15913],"class_list":{"0":"post-324522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-allied-irish-banks","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-colin-hunt","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jack-chambers","19":"tag-keith-kelly","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-martin-heydon","25":"tag-miriam-ocallaghan","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-rte","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-ucd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116027240284670152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}