A daily newspaper journalist has been honoured for his coverage of Gaelic sports.

Neil Loughran, of the Belfast-based Irish News, has won the National Media title at the MacNamee Awards, which is run by the Gaelic Athletic Association.

The GAA is the governing body for sports including hurling and Gaelic football across the island of Ireland.

Neil won the award for a feature on Peter Withnell, a former County Down Gaelic footballer, and will receive his accolade at a ceremony to be held at Dublin’s Croke Park, the GAA’s headquarters, on Friday.

Irish News sports editor Thomas Hawkins said: “I’m delighted for Neil. The MacNamee Awards are very prestigious and much prized among GAA journalists.

“To come out top in this category is really special. The standard of the entries is exceptionally high; you are competing against the best journalists in the GAA field.

“I know the effort and research Neil puts into all his work and his MacNamee feature submission on former Down star Peter Withnell was a superb piece of sports journalism. And it’s just one of a series of brilliant sports features Neil has written in 2016 since joining the sports reporting team.

“On behalf of all his colleagues in The Irish News I would like to congratulate him on this achievement, and the same goes for all the MacNamee Award category winners. They have all excelled in their various fields.”