Navan journalist scoops top EU award

Navan journalist Angela Steen has been awarded a prestigious journalism prize by the European Parliament for her contribution to the understanding of major European issues. Angela (26) is a daughter of Ambrose Steen and Marie Nolan and is a past pupil of St Michael"s Loreto Secondary School. She studied European Studies at Trinity College and the Sciences-Po in Paris before completing a post-graduate course in Journalism at Griffith College in Dublin. During the award ceremony in Brussels on 17th October, Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, congratulated more than 70 national winners from all over Europe, including Angela who won the Irish competition for the European Parliament prize. The awards are held to recognise the work of journalists who make a contribution to clarifying major issues at European level or have promoted a better understanding of the institutions or policy of the European Union. Angela won the prize for her article 'Åland - A Land Neither Finnish Nor Swedish", which is about a tiny archipelago of Finland, which is home to 26,000 Swedish speaking islanders. Angela puts this little island in the spot of her article, as it has the power, under the Finish constitution, to reject the Lisbon Treaty in Finland. And for different reasons the Ålandish parliamentary assembly threatened to stop the ratification process. The Irish jury found Angela"s article to be the outstanding contribution of the competition in Ireland, as it puts a rarely known story of European integration into the spotlight. When she finished her European Studies degree, Angela spent two years in Japan, and, after graduating from Griffith College in March, she took up an internship with the communications section of the European Commission. Angela got her inspiration for the article when she visited Aland while on a Foreign Correspondents course in Finland during her studies. She recently took up a post as an assistant to an MEP in the European Parliament and said she is finding her work very interesting and that she is learning a lot about the working of the European institutions. Her ambition is to become a European correspondent. Angela was congratulated by members of the European Parliament from her constituency in Ireland on winning the award. Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle said: 'Angela is from my own constituency of Ireland east, and, like many journalists across the EU, the way she provides information on EU issues helps to promote a better understanding of how EU institutions work.' Fianna Fáil MEP, Liam Aylward, joined the congratulators. He said: 'I wish to congratulate Angela Steen on her reward for journalism. The more light is shed on the European Parliament by journalists, the more informed people are about the work that is being done.' Fine Gael MEP, Mairead McGuinness, also recognised Angela"s contribution, highlighting that 'journalism is a very noble profession and good journalism is a very important part of healthy democracy. Angela deserves to feel proud of her achievement.'