Search for New Irish Iconic Images Launched

An evocative night-time photograph of Dublin city's main thoroughfare was announced today (Monday, 9th August 2010) as the winner of this year's GoIreland.com Photography Awards, an international amateur tourist photography competition that highlights Ireland and its tourism qualities using a different theme each year.

The announcement was made by Gulliver Ireland, the cost effective provider of reservations and tourism information, at the launch of a search for new Irish iconic images at the GoIreland.com Photography Awards, which are held in association with John Hinde Ireland.

Entitled 'Dublin by Night', the winning photograph was taken by Bernard O'Sullivan from Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. The image features Dublin's O'Connell Street, one of Europe's widest streets, at night and The Spire, the 120-metre needle-like stainless steel sculpture, which rises above the street and Dublin's skyline. The Spire's gently lit base and reflective surface provide an interesting counterpoint to the surrounding street lighting.

Themed the beauty of Ireland's villages, towns and cities, this year's competition received thousands of photographic entries from Irish and visiting tourists. German and UK tourists joined Irish tourists from Dublin, Cork, Galway, Clare, Louth and Kerry among the 11 runners-up.

Their photographs included views of Galway Bay; Cork's Cobh and Roches Point; Drogheda; Blennerville in Tralee, Co. Kerry; Bunratty, Co. Clare; Kinvara, Co Galway; Derry and Sligo's Enniscrone Beach. The winning collection can be viewed at Winners 2009

Launching the awards, the sixth year of the competition, the judging panel invited Irish holidaymakers and visiting tourists to submit photographs that capture a unique and personal view of Ireland using the theme 'An Eye for Ireland'. Entrants are encouraged to use John Hinde's series of famous postcards and iconic images of Ireland years ago as inspiration.

The overall winner will receive an award-winning Olympus E-PL1 digital camera and the top 12 photographs will be reproduced as an original John Hinde calendar.

Further details are available at goireland.com/photos. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, 15th December 2010 at 5pm.

Speaking at the announcement, Dr Stewart Stephens, Gulliver Ireland's Managing Director, said, “The photography awards richly illustrate how visiting and domestic tourists perceive Ireland and what symbolises the country for them. Bernard O'Sullivan's photograph is a worthy winner that joins a growing collection of award-winning images of Ireland, which record the places and things that make Ireland stand out as a tourist location.”

Cormac Leonard, Commercial Director of John Hinde Ireland commented, “Once again we at John Hinde are delighted to be associated with the GoIreland.com photography competition. The response to the competition was fantastic and the variety of photos submitted was excellent. We truly have a wonderful country to photograph.”

For further information, please contact:
Lisa Fitzpatrick, Marketing Manager, Gulliver Ireland
Telephone: (066) 9792112
E-mail: lfitzpatrick@fexco.com

or

Barry Ahern, Business Management Communications
Telephone: (01) 4830832/ (087) 6683574
E-mail: barry.ahern@bmcomms.ie