University of Limerick students scoop four awards at the National Student Media Awards

Proud moment for I Love Limerick as Rachel Petticrew (centre), who spent more than one year working with us, experiences ‘Smedia’ success at the National Student Media Awards representing University of Limerick. Rachel is pictured above with her colleagues at The Limerick Voice launch. Photo: Alan Place

University of Limerick student, Rachel Petticrew, who spent more than one year at I Love Limerick, was among the winning nominations celebrating ‘Smedia’ success at the National Student Media awards

By I Love Limerick correspondent Cian Reinhardt

I Love Limerick contributor and University of Limerick fourth-year student, Rachel Petticrew was announced as a winner at the Student Media Awards (Smedia) in Dublin on Thursday, April 20 with the university picking up four awards in total.

Rachel, who carried out her CoOp work experience with I Love Limerick and then stayed on for over 6 months a the Digital Editor, is now Digital Editor of The Limerick Voice, a student-run fourth-year project as part of the Journalism and New Media course at University of Limerick.

It was a successful year for University of Limerick students, competing for nine awards in seven categories, with 15 nominations for the university, and some coming out on top in their categories. Winners on the night included Rachel Petticrew for her work in journalism related to health, UL student-led magazine ‘Curious’, and Aislínn Kelly for her work in feature writing.

Rachel won in the category of ‘Journalism Related to Health’ for her work focusing on substance misuse and services in Limerick City.

Rachel told I Love Limerick, “I’m thrilled to have won the Journalism Relating to Health award at last night’s SMEDIAs for my piece on the ongoing issues with crack cocaine use, prevention and treatment in Limerick City.”

#ICYMI UL journalism students secure record number of national media award nominations

Enormous congratulations to our incredibly talented journalism students, who are represented in 14 categories at the SMEDIA Awards https://t.co/Luniq9LJuE#StudyatUL #Journalism pic.twitter.com/Hb1hAk0gED— University Of Limerick (@UL) April 20, 2023

Rachel offered a “huge thanks” when recognising all of those who helped her, including Dr Dervla Kelly, the Mid West Regional Drugs & Alchohol Forum, and Novas, and extended a special thanks to her UL colleagues and mentors for their, “advice and to all who contributed to our brilliant Limerick Voice print edition in March”.

On her involvement with The Limerick Voice, Rachel said, “It’s been an honour taking on the role of Digital Editor at Limerick Voice this year, and I speak on behalf of the entire team in saying we are so proud of what we have achieved and the important stories we’ve brought to the people of Limerick since September 2022.”

Having worked with I Love Limerick during her time at university, Richard Lynch spoke highly of Rachel and noted the pride the website has in her award-win.

“We are all so happy for Rachel here, she truly deserves all of the success she has. Having spent more than a year at I Love Limerick, she showed great journalistic integrity, a passion for writing, and digital media content creation during her time here, and she took on her role with the utmost professionalism. It is always great to see Limerick’s talent pool recognised, and especially at a national level, we all know Rachel has a bright future in journalism and this is just the beginning for her,” said Richard.

I'm delighted to have won Features Writer of the Year- Arts and Pop Culture at the Student Media Awards. It's a lovely way to end four years of studying journalism. Thank you to everyone at @journalismatUL for your invaluable support and guidance. pic.twitter.com/Ryh7sRazJa— Aislínn Kelly (@akellywrites) April 21, 2023

Aislínn Kelly, another UL representative and award winner noted on Twitter, “I’m delighted to have won Features Writer of the Year- Arts and Pop Culture at the Student Media Awards. It’s a lovely way to end four years of studying journalism.

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Thrilled to have won @TheSmedias Journalism Relating to Health Award for my piece on crack cocaine use, prevention and treatment in Limerick City, published in our @LimerickVoice print edition in March. Special thanks to @ULMEDResearch, @MWRDAF, @novasireland & @Hayes_Cait! 🗞️ pic.twitter.com/3DI3neTyVm— Rachel Petticrew (@PetticrewRachel) April 22, 2023