*Fiona McGarry.
AWARD-WINNING journalist, Fiona McGarry is to leave The Clare Champion.
Fiona who joined The Clare Champion in November 2019 is finishing up with the local newspaper this month.
She will take up a full-time lecturing position at the University of Galway where she had been lecturing in radio journalism, podcasting and media studies. In 2021, Fiona was named as the winner of the 2021 excellence in teaching and learning award in journalism and communication at NUIG for her commitment to high quality teaching, focus on student learning and the delivery of an outstanding student experience.
Last month, she took home the top prize in the broadcast journalism local radio category in the Justice Media Awards for a radio mini-documentary she did for Midwest Radio entitled ‘Searching for Sandra’. Fiona spoke to the family of Killala native Sandra Collins who disappeared on 4th December 2000 without a trace about life in the intervening twenty two years. She had previously won a Justice Media Award for a short radio series on the work of Bedford Row Project, which supports prisoners and families in the Mid-West.
During her time with The Champion, Fiona became the first journalist in the country to report on pyrite in Co Clare and has extensively highlighted the matter since her first article on the topic in September 2020. She has also served as the paper’s East Clare correspondent.
Prior to joining the Barrack Street based newspaper, Fiona spent four years as the producer of Clare FM’s current affairs show, Morning Focus which was then fronted by Gavin Grace and is now hosted by Alan Morrissey.
A native of Castlebar in Co Mayo, Fiona now lives in Ruan. In 2012, she secured a funding award from the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund to travel to Haiti to produce a four-part print feature series for the Connaught Telegraph, a one-hour documentary for Midwest Radio and a slide show for Mayo Today.ie.
She was closely involved in the development of JOE.ie and Her.ie while she was a senior producer on the Newstalk’s Lunchtime Show which was presented by Damien Kiberd, Brendan O’Brien and Karen Coleman.
McGarry has worked as a broadcast journalist and producer with Galway Bay FM, Midwest Radio and Radio Kerry. In her native county, Fiona was news editor of The Western People and editor of the Mayo Advertiser.
Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District which was one of Fiona’s final markings for The Champion, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) acknowledged it her as final sitting in Scariff and wished her well on her new career path.
