Have you helped people to use, understand, create or participate in media? Here’s your chance to shout about it. The call for entries for the 2026 MLI Awards is now open!
Supported by Coimisiún na Meán, the aim of the MLI Awards programme is to recognise the work that is being undertaken to help citizens, especially within communities, develop the media literacy skills that will empower them to make the best use of media.
Organisations big and small are invited to enter – from schools, libraries, community groups, to online platforms, broadcasters, commentators and influencers… and everything in between. Entries from across the island of Ireland are welcome – covering projects, resources, training, research or campaigns.
Information about the judging process, how to enter and the T&Cs are all available on the MLI website. You can also read about the previous MLI Award winners.
Closing date for entries is Friday 4 September.
2026 Categories
This year, a new category has been added, making a total of six categories to enter:
- Best Media Literacy Initiative for Young People – This award is open to any initiative that helped empower children or young people under 18 and living on the island of Ireland, to develop media literacy skills, knowledge and/or competencies.
- Best Media Literacy Initiative for Older People – This award is open to any initiative that helped empower older people aged 65 or above and living on the island of Ireland, to develop media literacy skills, knowledge and/or competencies.
- Best Community-Based Media Literacy Initiative – This award is open to any initiative that helped to empower people living within a particular community (either geographic or community of interest) on the island of Ireland, to develop media literacy skills, knowledge and/or competencies.
- Best General Media Literacy Initiative – This award is open to any initiative that helped (directly or indirectly) to empower people living on the island of Ireland to develop media literacy skills, knowledge and/or competencies. Projects or initiatives may take any form including, but not limited to: Training, Research, Outreach Programmes, Projects, Resources, Advocacy, Network-building, and/or Funding.
- Best Large-Scale Media Literacy Initiative – This award is open to any media literacy initiative that helped people living on the island of Ireland to develop media literacy skills, knowledge and/or competencies and which was delivered at a national level and/or ran or is running for three consecutive years, and/or operates on a budget of more than €75,000.
- Best Media-Led Media Literacy Initiative – This award is open to any media organisation, media professional or media collaboration which has consistently supported the work of MLI and/or promoted media literacy messages via their channels, in an empowering and engaging way to people living on the island of Ireland.
In addition, there is the chance to be awarded The Judges’ Award. This is a special, optional award that is only granted if the Judges agree that a particular project or person deserves recognition for their exceptional contribution to promoting media literacy in Ireland. Applications or nominations cannot be made for this award.
Awards ceremony
All short-listed entries will be invited to a special MLI Awards ceremony generously hosted by MLI members Virgin Media in their TV studio, where the winners of each category will be announced. This event will take place on the 11 November 2026, so if you enter the awards, please make a note of this date in case you get short-listed.
Each Category Winner will receive a gorgeous, hand-crafted trophy and highly commended projects will receive a beautiful wall plague, both designed and hand-crafted by Cian Magill of Magill Woodcraft Ireland. The design, specially created for MLI, is based on an abstract representation of an enlightened eye – symbolising the power within, that can be achieved with persistence and inner belief. It is also inspired by the concept of awareness, critical thinking, and one’s motivation to make a positive difference in the world.
Judging
If you are not going to enter the 2026 MLI Awards but would still like to be involved, maybe you could consider participating as a judge for the MLI Awards. A three-person panel of judges will be assigned to review the shortlisted entries for each of the six categories. Each judge will be asked to independently review and score the shortlisted entries for their category. Once the independent reviewing is complete, each judge will be asked to join one online meeting (via Zoom or Teams) to discuss the entries, decide on the final scores for the shortlisted entries, and agree on the winning entry for the assigned category.
For each category, it is anticipated that the judges will be required for no more than four hours in total for the independent reviews, plus up to three hours for the online consensus meeting. The independent judging is expected to take place 2–19 October and the online judging panel meetings are expected to take place 19–30 October.
All judges will be invited to attend the awards ceremony.
Please note: Judges must not have submitted an entry for a category that they are judging, or have been involved with a project that has been entered for the category they are judging. Judges can judge entries for other categories for which they have not entered or been involved with.
If you would like to be considered for an MLI Awards judging panel, please complete this form.
