Alan Betson of The Irish Times has been named the AIB Press Photographer of the Year 2024 at an awards ceremony in Dublin on Friday night.
Betson won praise for his ability to find the unusual in everyday life and outstanding news photography, with the judges commenting: “The overall Photographer of the Year Award goes to a photographer who showed huge versatility. Their portfolio showcased outstanding news photography as well as a strong eye for quirky daily life images. They are well able to compose images and have a strong sense of design, a keen perceptive eye and the ability to find the unusual in the everyday. The judges were unanimous in their selection”.
Betson won three categories – News, Politics, and Arts & Entertainment – as well as the overall prize.
Irish Times photographer Dara Mac Dónaill won the Daily Life & People category, while freelance and regular Irish Times contributor Nick Bradshaw won the Nature & Environment category for his portrait of a preening cormorant which featured on the front page of The Irish Times.
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Awards were presented across 10 distinct categories – News, Daily Life & People, Sports Action, Sports Feature, Portrait, Nature & the Environment, Politics, Arts & Entertainment, Reportage and Multimedia, in addition to the AIB Sustainability Award.
The judging panel was led by former picture editor of The Irish Times, Frank Miller, alongside Helen Healy, former head of pictures at the Financial Times, and Shaun Botterill of Getty Images. Journalist Philip Bromwell and former RTÉ cameraman Michael Lee led the judging of the multimedia category. The judges selected the winning and highly commended images and video from more than 1,200 entries entered by members of the PPAI.
Other category winners
NEWS
1, Alan Betson, The Irish Times, “Burning city”
2, Alan Betson, The Irish Times, “Relieved”
3. Clodagh Kilcoyne, Reuters, “Pulled from the rubble”
DAILY LIFE & PEOPLE
1, Dara Mac Dónaill, The Irish Times, “Community support”
2, Philip Doyle, Irish Farmers Journal, “Give it welly”
3, Niall Carson, PA Media, “Salthill somersault”
SPORTS ACTION
1, Bryan Keane, Inpho Photography, “Amphibious”
2, James Crombie, Inpho Photography, “Focus”
3, Ben Brady, Inpho Photography, “Pulling on purple”
SPORTS FEATURE
1, Dan Sheridan, Inpho Photography, “Golden drops”
2. Brendan Moran, Sportsfile, “Cup celebration”
3, Tom Maher, Inpho Photography, “Taking a breather”
PORTRAIT
1, Mark Condren, Mediahuis Ireland, “Taking a break”
2, Bryan O’Brien, The Irish Times, “The druid”
3, John Kelly, The Clare Champion, “A star is born ...”
NATURE & THE ENVIRONMENT
1, Nick Bradshaw, Freelance/ The Irish Times, “Preening cormorant”
2, Michael Mac Sweeney, Provision, “Dog day afternoon”
3, James Crombie, Inpho Photography “Tree of life”
POLITICS
1, Alan Betson, The Irish Times, “Improving foreign affairs”
2, Mark Condren, Mediahuis Ireland, “Mayo for Joe!”
3, Frank McGrath, Mediahuis Ireland “Mary Lou McDonald”
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
1, Alan Betson, The Irish Times “Tears of Joy – Niall Horan fans”
2, Nick Bradshaw, Freelance/ The Irish Times, “Hozier in Dublin”
3. Andres Poveda, Andres Poveda Photography, “Johnny Rotten mood”
REPORTAGE
1, Sam Boal, rollingnews.ie, “Dublin’s burning”
2. Dan Linehan, Irish Examiner, “Road bowling”
3, Philip Doyle, Irish Farmers Journal, “Lough Neagh eels”
MULTIMEDIA
1, Mark Condren, Mediahuis Ireland, “Mooving”
AIB SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
1, Dan Linehan, Irish Examiner, “Hair-raising devastation”
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