Julien Behal named AIB Photojournalist of the Year

Julien Behal has been named AIB Photojournalist of the Year 2014 at the Press Photographers' Association of Ireland awards.

Three Irish Times photographers took prizes in the individual categories, with Eric Luke awarded first prize in the Arts and Entertainment category, Dara Mac Dónaill taking second prize in Politics, and Bryan O'Brien awarded third prize in the News section.

It is the second time Mr Behal of Maxwell Photography has won the award. He took prizes in four categories this year which the judges said displayed his “incredible ability over the many disciplines and facets of press photography”.

The judging panels – chaired by former Irish Times picture editor Dermot O'Shea, with Philip Coburn of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror , and Lefteris Pitarakis of Associated Press, chose the winners from 2,000 images entered by 112 photographers.

The full list of winners:

News

1 Julien Behal, Press Association of Ireland, 2 Brian Lawless, Press Association of Ireland, 3 Bryan O’Brien, The Irish Times.

Daily Life & People

1 Tom Honan, Irish Mail on Sunday, 2 John C Kelly, The Clare Champion, 3 Marc O’Sullivan, Marc O’Sullivan Photography.

Sports Action

1 Dan Sheridan, Inpho Sports Photography, 2 Alan Place, Alan Place Photography, 3 Stephen McCarthy, Sportsfile.

Sports Feature

1 Paul Mohan, Sportsfile, 2 Cathal Noonan, Inpho Sports Photography, 3 Paul Mohan, Sportsfile.

Portrait

1 Julien Behal, Maxwell Photography, 2 Julien Behal, Press Association of Ireland, 3 Leon Farrell, Photocall Ireland.

Nature and the Environment

1 Justin Kernoghan, JKFOTOPRESS, 2 Niall Carson, Press Association of Ireland, 3 Naoise Culhane, Naoise Culhane Photography.

Politics

1 Julien Behal, Maxwell Photography, 2 Dara Mac Dónaill, The Irish Times, 3 Aidan Crawley, Bloomberg.

Arts and Entertainment

1 Eric Luke, The Irish Times, 2 Barry Cronin, Barry Cronin Photography, 3 Leon Farrell, Photocall Ireland.

Reportage

1 Eamon Ward, Eamon Ward Photography, 2 Julien Behal, Maxwell Photography, 3 Michael MacSweeney, Provision.