The Jaded Newsman’s Editor-in-Chief, Ciaran O’Mahony, and Australian journalist Bianca Roberts, have been recognised in the International Sports Press Association’s (AIPS) list of the top 36 writers in the world under 30.

Each year, the organisation holds the AIPS Sports Media awards, which honour the best sport storytellers across the globe, and is widely regarded as the highest international accolade in the sports media industry.

The fifth edition of the awards received record levels of participation, with almost 2000 submissions from 138 countries across five continents.

This is the second consecutive year that O’Mahony has been nominated in the AIPS Sports Media awards, having been shortlisted in the Best Columnists and Best Writers Under 30 categories in 2021. He was honoured with these nominations for a longform investigation into the effects of Covid lockdowns on doping testing around the world, and a feature from a multimedia series co-produced with Ms Roberts, that highlighted the rise of Rwandan football coach, Grace Nyinawumuntu.

This year, O’Mahony has been nominated for a feature on Taekwondo Instructor and athlete, David King, who represented Australia at the 2022 Oceania Taekwondo Championships just a few years after suffering a serious heart attack.

Roberts also features in the longlist for her human-interest piece on Felicite Rwemarika, a former refugee who has become a pioneer for social change in Rwanda through her creation of women’s football programs and a national football league. The article illustrates the benefits of using football as a vehicle for women’s rights and healing in post-genocide Rwanda.

Roberts has a background in health and aged care reporting, with further experience at country newspapers and popular magazines. She is also sharing her knowledge and passion for journalism as a Visiting Instructor of Mass Communication at Abu Dhabi University.

Roberts’ commitment to incisive reporting on important social issues, policies and legislation made her an excellent fit to collaborate with The Jaded Newsman on the Rwandan women’s football series, and her dynamic skills both in print and audio were instrumental in developing what is now a multi-award winning project as well as Roberts O’Mahony Productions.

You can view the AIPS’ full longlist of the best writers in the world under 30 here.

We congratulate both journalists for their nominations and wish them luck for the remainder of the competition.