The Currency has received the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Industry Award’ at the annual UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards.

This is the first time that such an award has been presented in the 14 years that the event has been running. The judging panel, led by Primark brand ambassador Breege O’Donoghue, cited The Currency’s “groundbreaking work in championing long-form business journalism on a digital platform in Ireland”.

The award was one of three won by The Currency at the event. Devin Sean Martin was named ‘Upcoming Journalist of the Year’ for three pieces published on the site. They were:

Tom Lyons, the co-founder and chief executive of The Currency, won the ‘Business Feature of the Year’ for his three-part investigation into the Davy bond scandal. You can read the full investigation here.

Thomas Hubert was also nominated in this category for his in-depth investigation into the Queally family food business empire. The feature tracked more than 300 companies and revealed their corporate structure and business strategy.

Lyons was also nominated in the ‘Business Interview’ category for his interview with IBI managing director Ted Webb. The category was won by Killian Woods of the Business Post for an interview with the property developer Johnny Ronan.

Elsewhere, the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Dearbhail McDonald for her contribution to journalism.

Joe Brennan of The Irish Times won the ‘Business News” category for his submission, “NatWest may wind down Ulster Bank in Republic”, while Newstalk’s Gavin McLoughlin won the ‘Business Podcast of the Year’ award.

Killian Woods won the ‘Specialist Reporter of the Year’ for his work on the housing crisis.

This year’s independent panel of judges was chaired by O’Donoghue and was comprised of academic, journalistic and business representatives including: JP Donnelly, Head of Country, WPP; Professor Gerardine Doyle, Director of UCD Smurfit Business School and Associate Dean of UCD College of Business; Audrey Healy, Head of Marketing and Communications and Director of Alumni Relations; Niamh Hennessy, Client Director, Healy Communications; Professor Anne Keegan, Professor of Human Resource Management, UCD College of Business; Professor Seamas Kelly, Professor of Organisation, Technology and Society, UCD College of Business; Caitlin McBride, Media and Communications Consultant and UCD Smurfit School Image MBA Scholar 2020; Gary McGann, Chairman of Flutter Entertainment plc; Susan O’Keefe, Executive Director of Yeats Society Sligo; Noirin O’Sullivan, Former UN Assistant Secretary General and Irish Garda Commissioner; Associate Professor Paul Ryan, Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning, UCD Smurfit School; and Anton Savage, Broadcaster and a founding Director of The Communications Clinic.