Twelve nominations for Irish Independent and Sunday Independent journalists for Justice Media Awards
Awarded by the Law Society of Ireland, the Justice Media Awards are the longest-running media awards in the country and recognise the highest standards of excellence in legal journalism.
Special Correspondent Catherine Fegan has received three nominations across as many categories, the first for her story speaking to survivors of sexual abuse, who told of the difficult decision to waive their anonymity so the perpetrators could be named.
She has also been shortlisted for her coverage of the civil rape case brought against MMA fighter Conor McGregor, where a jury found he assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018 and ordered him to pay almost €250,000 in damages.
The headline of her article read: 'Nikita Hand v Conor McGregor: The moment the mask slipped.'
McGregor is currently attempting to appeal the High Court civil jury finding.
Ms Fegan has also been nominated in the human rights and social justice reporting category for her story speaking to survivors of abuse at schools about the trauma they faced and their fight for justice.
Legal Affairs Editor Shane Phelan has been shortlisted for his coverage of the key factors that may have swayed the jury in Nikita Hand's case against Conor McGregor in the court reporting category.
Sunday Independent journalist Mark Tighe received his first of three nominations for his story on 'how one woman took on the world's most 'notorious' fighter and triumphed'.
He was also nominated alongside Joe Molloy and the Indo Sport podcast team for their podcast episode 'Nikita Hand wins David and Goliath case against Conor McGregor'.
Mr Tighe and RTÉ Investigates' Marie Crowe have been nominated for their joint investigation 'Field of Broken Dreams', in which multiple female footballers claimed they were subjected to unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances from FAI coaches in the 1990s.
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Ireland Editor Fionnán Sheahan has been nominated for his coverage of a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) independent investigation surrounding it's director general Professor Philip Nolan.
He has also been nominated alongside the Indo Daily podcast team in the podcast category for their episode ''Wanted': Gardaí release images of 99 Dublin riot suspects, is it a worrying precedent?', which was released last November.
News correspondent Ellen Coyne has been shortlisted in the human rights and social justice reporting category for her coverage of how domestic violence victims are forced into homelessness by a lack of refuge spaces.
Sunday Independent journalist Ali Bracken has received two nods in total, including for her story about assault victim Natasha O'Brien as she prepared to return to court to face her attacker and for the legal road still faced by the family of Valerie French in the years after her husband James Kilroy was convicted of her murder.
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