Champions of Europe

CELEBRATING Peter Hynes, Westport Town Manager; Michelle Gannon, designer, The Mayo News; Cllr Declan Dever, Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council; Fergus Kelly, Head of Design and IT, The Mayo News; Denise Horan, Editor, The Mayo News, and Dermot Berry, MD, The Mayo News, pictured in Vienna with the European Newspaper Design award.

The Mayo News – champions of Europe

TWENTY years ago this week, the late Joe Berry led a group of businessmen from Westport in buying The Mayo News, with a view to making it into one of the finest local newspapers in the country. To that end, Joe immediately appointed Seán Staunton as Editor of the paper and in the years that followed it grew from strength to strength.

Sadly Joe Berry passed away almost four years ago, but last week his son Dermot, who now owns The Mayo News, spoke proudly of the legacy of his late father, as he joined Editor Denise Horan, Head of Design and IT Fergus Kelly and designer Michelle Gannon in accepting the award of Europe’s Best-Designed Newspaper before an audience of almost 600 people in the Rathaus in Vienna. Also in attendance were the Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Cllr Declan Dever, and Westport Town Manager, Peter Hynes, both of whom travelled with The Mayo News delegation in recognition of the paper’s achievement in winning such a major international accolade.

Dermot expressed his delight at the achievement and paid tribute to those who were central to bringing it about. “I’m sorry my father could not have been in Vienna to celebrate such a magnificent achievement. He would have been so proud because he loved The Mayo News and delighted in its successes.

“I was honoured to be there in his place and am immensely proud of The Mayo News team and all they have achieved. We are a small, family-owned newspaper but that has never stopped us from aiming high, and we got our reward in Vienna last week,” he said.

Editor of The Mayo News, Denise Horan, paid tribute to all the staff who contribute to the paper’s success week after week.

“Everything we do in The Mayo News we do in a cooperative way, with all departments working together to produce the best paper we can every week. It is truly a team effort and every member of our wonderful team is invaluable.

“In this instance, however, I must single out our Head of Design Fergus Kelly, whose creative genius has made The Mayo News into the award-winning publication it is, from a design perspective. As well as being enormously talented himself, he is generous with his talents, and our excellent team of designers have learned so much from him, while he too has learned from them, as they all have their own unique talents. It is this range of talents that gives The Mayo News its distinctive look, which is always marked by quality,” she said.