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TG4’s record of garnering major international awards continues with the announcement today that it has taken the most coveted of all the Torc awards at at the Celtic Media Festival 2015 which ended in Inverness, Scotland this evening. Páidí Ó Sé, Rí an Pharóiste won the Spirit of the Festival Award  for the best programme in a Celtic language.

Portrait of GAA legend lands premier prize for TG4 at Celtic Media Festival

24.04.15

The winning entry is a frank and fulsome appraisal of the legendary footballer and manager, a colourful character whose sudden death in December 2012 at the age of 57 shocked the sporting world and the wider public.   Often in the news, sometimes controversial,  always quotable, Páidí was many things to many people and one of the élite five players who won eight All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals during Kerry’s golden era.  This programme gives a unique insight into how his family and neighbours in his beloved West Kerry Gaeltacht saw him.  For them he was a local hero, the king of the parish as the programme’s title has it as it provides a different perspective to that often given in the national media during his eventful life and after his death.  The programme is narrated by his neighbour Louise Ní Fhiannachta and was produced for TG4 by independent company Magamedia.

The Celtic Media Festival (CMF) is one of the most prestigious and long-established TV and media festivals in these islands.  It is held each year,  rotating between venues in the various Celtic nations and regions.  It combines a three-day media conference that attracts broadcasters, producers, media and students with a competition across the full range of Film, TV, Radio and new media content genres.  CMF content awards are highly-coveted.  Entries go through a national pre-selection phase in each country announced in February with the selected national winners advancing to the international Festival. (www.celticmediafestival.co.uk).

TG4 Ardstiúrthóir Pól Ó Gallchóir, congratulated the winning entry, saying that it was clear from the outset that this would be a special programme, a unique insight into a complex character whose life and achievements left a deep mark on his neighbours in the close-knit community in which he grew up and lived all his life.  “Quality will always travel well,” he said “and this latest prize for the Páidí Ó Sé portrait confirms that our colleagues in the Celtic countries recognise that special quality too.”

He also welcomed tonight’s announcement that the Celtic Media Festival 2016 will be held in Dungarvan Co Waterford in April next year.

More information:

Linda Ní Ghríofa, TG4 – 087 9172864, Linda.ni.ghriofa@tg4.ie

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