The top award was presented to Conor Gallagher, crime correspondent at The Irish Times, for an article on the Ana Kriégel murder trial.

A total of 33 prizes were awarded in yesterday’s online ceremony across various categories, with court reporting entries earning significant praise.

Michele O’Boyle, president of the Law Society, said: “It is a historic moment for the Law Society to bring the Justice Media Awards online.

“As our entry deadline approached in April, journalists and news rooms were working remotely across the country and still delivering essential news on a day-to-day basis. Even in these challenging circumstances, we still received an outstanding response across the spectrum of Irish journalism.”

She added: “The Law Society would like to particularly commend the exceptionally high quality of court reporting entries for this year’s Awards, reflected in the fact that our Overall Award this year came from this category.

“The enormous challenge of reporting on one of the State’s most disturbing murder trials, alongside the daily court reports from up and down the country that are so important for the administration of justice, have been recognised and rewarded in this year’s Justice Media Awards.”