An Irish Times photographer, Bryan O'Brien, was named last night as Eircell Press Photographer of the Year.
A total of 12 prizes in five categories were awarded to four Irish Times photographers, Bryan O'Brien, Eric Luke, Alan Betson and David Sleator.
Eric Luke was named Arts Photographer of the Year, while David Sleator was named Political Photographer of the Year, and Alan Betson came third in the news category.
The awards, now in their 21st year, were presented by the actor Liam Neeson at a ceremony in UCD last night.
As well as winning the overall award for his "consistency of visual style," Mr O'Brien picked up six other prizes including the special humour award.
The judging panel was chaired by Dr Pat Donlon, the former head of the National Library. She said the entries could be "ranked alongside the best of international press photography today".
"The standard was high with a clear indication of a degree of sophistication and selectivity by the individual photographers in the entries they submitted," she said.
Paul Faith, a freelance photographer, was named News Photographer of the Year. David Conachy from the Sunday Independent came second in this category, while Alan Betson came third.
A freelance photographer, Tommy Eibrand, was named Sports Photographer of the Year, with second place going to David Maher from Sportsfile and third to Tom Burke from the Irish Independent.
Bryan O'Brien was named Features Photographer of the Year and also took third prize in the same category. Noel Gavin from Allpix and the Star came second.
Dave Meehan, a freelance, was named People Photographer of the Year, while Michael MacSweeney from Provision came second and Christopher Doyle from the Irish Independent came third.
Steve Humphreys from the Irish Independent was named Photographer of the Year in the individual study category, with Tom Honan from Inpho second and Eric Luke third.
Eric Luke was named Arts Photographer of the Year and took third prize in the same category, while Bryan O'Brien came second.
David Sleator was named Photographer of the Year in the political category, with Bryan O'Brien taking second and third prizes.
Kenneth O'Halloran from the Irish Independent was named Picture Story Photographer of the Year, and also won third prize in the same category. Alan O'Connor from Cosmos (Paris) came second. Bryan O'Brien won the special humour award.
The judges selected more than 100 highly commended photographs, which will be included in the Eircell Press Photography Association of Ireland exhibition. The exhibition will be in Cork County Library, Grand Parade, from next Monday to Saturday. It will open in the Temple Bar Gallery of Photography in Dublin on Tuesday, March 7th.