Earlier this year “Bliain in Árainn Mhór”, the 4 part series I cut for Power Pictures and TG4 was broadcast to strong ratings and positive reviews. Everyone involved in the show was delighted with this and was absolutely thrilled when the series was nominated for the prestigious Oireachtas awards last week.
Organised by Oireachtas na Gaeilge, the Oireachtas Media Awards look to celebrate the TV and Radio presenters, actors, journalists and programme makers who have excelled in their contribution to Irish language media in the past year. This year the nominations feature a very broad range of programmes that reflect the high quality work being done through Irish.
Its possible for members of the public to have a say in the voting process by following the link here and casting their votes.
Don’t be put off by the first page (they are looking for your name, organisation and email, you do not need to enter your phone number) or the fact thats it’s all in Irish its actually quite straightforward. If you do decide to vote, why not throw a vote in the other categories to my buddies and their entries “Lon sa Speir”, “Seo Sport” and “BBC Blas” but the most important one is to vote for “Bliain in Árainn Mhór”. It would be great if it could win the award and with your help you never know…
The entire series was uploaded to youtube should you wish to remind yourself of the show, the links are all on this page.
In other award news, Traolach O’Murchu has informed me from his wintery den in Canada that the short we did together, Kara, has picked up another award on its travels. This time for lead actress Laura Erangey at the Bootleg Film Festival in Edinburgh a few weekends ago. Well done to her and to Traolach, whose mantlepiece must now be buckling under the weight of all those awards he’s picked up over the years!
The Celtic Media Festival takes place at the end of this month in Swansea and I’m delighted that Rás Tailteann is among the nominations. Its up for the sports gong and its in a tough competitive field (which also includes the excellent Jump Boys by Luke McManus) but it would be great if it won. The CMF from what I hear is always a great weekend and i’d love to be heading over, my schedule doesn’t suit but the film’s producer and director will be there and hopefully they will bring home the torc!
John Murphy 