A firsthand reflection of the Journalism Awards 2023 and what it means for me – By Elio Bonelli

My future is very much like this image. The background shows what I would love to achieve in my life and career. It appears clear and detailed. There is an end goal of sorts.  

A well-paid job doing something I absolutely adore. Perhaps getting married, having kids and living a long and fruitful life with people I love. Not live life in extreme stress, as my previous twenty-two years have shown. 

But just like the foreground of this picture, how I get to that point is extremely unclear and frighteningly uncertain.  

I am afraid.  

The journey looks hazy and confusing, but I know that at some point, things just might get better and more convincing. 

This photo was taken at the Journalism Awards 2023 at the Mansion House in Dublin 2 on the 15^th November. It was a celebration of the most influential and inspiring journalists from across the print sector in Ireland.  

And just like anything I do in life, this image, and even my attendance at the event itself, was not planned or set up. It was “lastminute.com”.  I didn’t even expect to take this kind of picture, but it serves as a perfect analogy for how I feel about journalism and indeed life. 

There were hundreds of people at this event. Guests, nominees and judges alike. All of us, joined in unison, celebrating the work and particular works of journalists this year. It was truly an occasion of togetherness and a time to connect, laugh and celebrate. I can proudly state “I was there!”. 

I know it sounds clichéd, but the very fact that I got to meet extremely like-minded people and characters gives me a tiny bit more confidence in what I do.  

The ethos of journalistic values that I have developed during my three and a half years in university so far – reinforced and reinvigorated by the very community that attracted me to this journalism degree in the first place.  

The general atmosphere of that day was one of unity. No competition, no divergence of morals and practices, no hierarchy.  

The only thing that separated us were the tables and the stage. One man stood above the rest of us. Our host, Matt Cooper. (Literally, as he was on the stage most of the time) 

Amid all the noise and photo-taking throughout the event, I kept thinking to myself, where do I see myself next year, and what is my future? 

Will I do a Masters? Will I go straight into work? What about an internship? Where should I do it in? Is Ireland the right place for me?

So many and too many questions. Maybe fear, maybe excitement. I don’t know. 

I definitely want to stay in journalism. I just want to find something that is profitable for me and to do something that I love. I was talking to a photographer before the awards were handed out. He said that there are simply no jobs for photojournalism. Partly because of social media, but also because media companies don’t want to spend a lot of money, so they use old stock photos as well.  

What a pity, because photojournalism is definitely something that I want to do in the future. The photographer said that commercial photography is easier and better money because there are more opportunities available. Great. I’ll think about that once I graduate. 

What about remote work from abroad? That’s what Carl Kinsella of The Journal does. He’s doing a Masters in Amsterdam and works remotely part-time, two days a week. It works for him, maybe it could work for me, you never know. 

“So much of journalism now, is tangled up in the tech world. I think that so much of journalism in the future will become tangled up with social media,” he said. 

There’s an idea for opportunities. 

Not at the event, but for whom I spoke to, over-the-phone after the ceremony, was Tom Cheshire from the Data and Forensics team at Sky News. 

He said that “misinformation and censorship is an opportunity for journalists to establish reputability for both them and their organisations. What I mean is, that the amount of false information we see online gives us and future journalists an opportunity to really work hard and get to the truth of things. By doing the hard work, we gain reputation and most importantly, trust.” 

The work of factual reporting and investigation has never been more important. It matters. It makes a difference. There is an opportunity to become something bigger.  

Journalism will make a huge difference to people’s lives in the future, and I want to be there for that. 

How I get there remains like the first image. The roads and opportunities are there. You just need to find your way through the mist and believe that the journey you are on, will yield incredible results.  

Let’s take this one step at a time.