{"id":334253,"date":"2026-03-07T19:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/334253\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T19:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:22:14","slug":"journalism-prize-established-in-memory-of-hit-and-run-victim-joe-drennan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/334253\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism prize established in memory of hit-and-run victim Joe Drennan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A memorial prize has been established for third-level students in Ireland to honour the memory of journalism student Joe Drennan, who was killed in a hit-and-run.<\/p>\n

The prize has been established by the University of Limerick and The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

From Mountrath, Co Laois, Drennan was aged just 21 when struck by a car while he was standing at a bus stop on his way home from working in a restaurant in Limerick.<\/p>\n

Entries are now open for the Unheard Voices: the Joe Drennan Memorial Prize for a piece of journalism offering a voice to those who so often go unheard.<\/p>\n

The competition is open to all students in colleges and universities on the island of Ireland, not just those studying for journalism degrees.<\/p>\n

It will seek to celebrate journalism that advances social justice and enhances understanding of marginalised communities and values, and to encourage emerging journalists to explore such areas.<\/p>\n

Announcing its establishment, Editor of The Irish Times Ruadh\u00e1n Mac Cormaic said: \u201cThe Joe Drennan Prize is a fitting way to memorialise a promising young journalist who was just starting out in our trade. It will create an invaluable opportunity for an emerging reporter to do work of real depth on a subject that matters.\u201d <\/p>\n

Submissions will be judged on impact, originality, depth of investigation, quality of research and reporting and standard of writing.<\/p>\n

The winning entry will be published in The Irish Times and the winner will receive a perpetual trophy. Entries can be submitted to Kathryn.hayes@ul.ie<\/a> and the closing date is May 31st 2026.<\/p>\n

\"AA member of his family holding a keyfob with a photograph of Joe Drennan outside Limerick Circuit Court. <\/p>\n

\u201cJoe\u2019s passion was to build a journalism career grounded in inclusivity and social justice,\u201d said Hayes, associate professor in Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of Limerick, who guided Drennan during his studies.<\/p>\n

The driver of the hit-and-run car, Kieran Fogarty, had filmed himself speeding just moments before he struck the Laois student at the Dublin Road bus stop on October 13th 2023.<\/p>\n

Initially, Fogarty was given a 6\u00bd year sentence for the hit-and-run. That sentence was to run concurrent to an eight-year term for an unrelated shooting, which he carried out seven months before the hit-and-run.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sentence for gangland figure who killed student Joe Drennan increased by five yearsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal subsequently increased his sentence <\/a>to 14 years, with one year suspended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A memorial prize has been established for third-level students in Ireland to honour the memory of journalism student…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28566,61,60,1634,43],"class_list":["post-334253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-bob","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-media","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}