A €1,000 prize will be awarded to one broadcast, print or online journalist every month between February and November as part of Investec's inaugural 20x20 Media Awards celebrating women in sport.
Launched today, the campaign aims to recognise and reward excellence in Irish journalism focused on women in sport.
"In demonstrating its commitment to the initiative, Investec has created this new awards scheme to help change the perceptions of women’s sport," they said today in a statement.
"The Investec 20x20 Media Awards recognises that increased visibility will lead to greater cultural recognition of girls and women in sport."
Journalists can submit entries on Women in Sport via www.investec.ie/20x20 with a winner announced each month. Entries to the awards can be submitted by nominees themselves or on behalf of journalists by editors or peers.
An overall annual winner will be announced in December 2019 and awarded the Investec 20x20 Media Award Winner title - ‘If She Can’t See It, She Can’t Be It’ Winner 2019.
The entries will be judged by an independent panel of judge comprising of: Mary O’Connor, CEO, Federation of Irish Sport; Michael Cullen, CEO, Investec; Sarah Colgan, CEO, Along Came A Spider and 20x20 co-founder and Gordon D’Arcy, former Irish rugby international.
"It is hugely important to recognise the work of the media and their value to the 20x20 campaign," said O'Connor.
"As we know, the pillar to increase media coverage by 20% by 2020 relies intrinsically on the hardworking journalists covering women’s sport week in and week out and their colleagues who in the past may not have had the same drive or opportunity to report on women’s sport.
"I have no doubt that the Investec 20x20 Media Awards will not only encourage more coverage of our female athletes, coaches and teams but also showcase some of the inspiring female sporting role-model stories from around the nation. I look forward to enjoying the submissions to the awards and the fantastic female success stories they will tell."
Cork, 2017 - Rena, with her 18 All-Ireland medals, is asked to present medals to the u12 boys & girls of a local #GAA club, when she arrived she was told they didn’t want her to present them to the U12 boys, only the girls.
Remarkable story from Rena Buckley at the #20x20 panel! pic.twitter.com/CU5qvuUDz1— Off The Ball (@offtheball) October 15, 2018
Co-Founder of the 20x20 initiative Sarah Colgan added: "The 20x20 campaign is starting to gain real momentum since the initiative launched in October 2018.
"Media companies have organically picked up on this very important national topic and have taken positive steps towards delivering on one of the key objectives of 20x20, which is to increase the level of coverage of women’s sport across media by 20% by the end of 2020. The Investec 20x20 Media Awards will help us get there."
The 20x20 Nielsen Sports Study found that just 3% of Print and 4% of online coverage was dedicated to women’s sport in Ireland.
Based on Nielsen Sports research, 20x20 has estimated television coverage of women's sport is less than 12%.
The research found that 59% of Irish people believe that the media should do more to promote female sport, with 57% wanting to see equality in female and male sporting role models in media.
The research also found that 63% of people would like to see Ireland’s sportswomen become national heroes in the same way as our sportsmen.
A special Sunday lined up on @offtheball 🙌🏻
#NollaigNamBan 🇮🇪🎽 #20x20 #cantseecantbe pic.twitter.com/jPIMV4UwBA— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) January 5, 2019
