Finding true passion in writing

My first week back couldn't have been a better one, albeit with a few missed classes. It wouldn’t be Journalism at UL without timetable confusion. At this stage, it wouldn’t feel right kicking off the semester without wondering if the class you are going to is actually taking place.

I entered my first class in the Schuman building’s lecture hall and sat beside the editor of our student newspaper, the Limerick Voice. She was telling me about the Student Publication Awards (SPAs) which were taking place in Trinity at the end of the week. It was then that she told me my article with Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention (LTSP) was put forward for Article of the Year. Professionally, I was delighted as it's a boost for my portfolio. Personally, I felt a small thrill. I remembered the evening I wrote that article. It was just before Christmas, I was under pressure to meet deadlines, yet I couldn’t get my night with LTSP out of my mind. The previous night, I had patrolled the rivers of Limerick city with their volunteers with the aim of doing ‘A Night in the Life’ type piece. The piece was not necessary for an assignment, I just wanted to do it. I nearly made what I consider to be a massive mistake, which I try to avoid if possible. I said I would conduct my interviews and write the article later, when I had more time. But passion pulled me another way.

READ GEMMA'S AWARD-WINNING ARTICLE:

Limerick’s ‘Going Dark’: A night in the life of a suicide prevention volunteer

It was around 11pm and, at this time of the year, the Glucksman Library was still packed. The crack of energy drink cans opening was all that pierced the tense silence. Perfectionists and lastminute.comers alike sweated. I closed my struggling essay doc and opened a blank page. I started typing, and the words flowed.

Last Friday was my first time on the Trinity campus. Myself and two others from my class travelled from Limerick to attend the awards ceremony. We passed the stunning campus centrepiece, the Campanile, and made our way to the Graduates Memorial Building. Before the awards were presented, guest speakers Barry Whyte, Aine Kirr and Aoife Barry spoke to us about their careers in journalism. The talk addressed all aspects of journalism from the dying industry myth to their first days in a journalism class and how they made it to where they are today. Each speaker brought a different perspective; Aoife talked about shifting into the editorial position as opposed to reporting based on her experience as a former assistant news editor at TheJournal.ie. Áine, who is a host on RTE Radio 1, spoke about keeping yourself accountable to your 'why' of entering journalism. She told us that, as young journalists, we may often end up doing stories that we didn’t have too much interest in. Her advice was to keep our 'why' in mind even in the hardest days of our career. Newstalk reporter Barry shared a memory from his first day in a journalism class, where his lecturer asked those who were in the room to make money to leave. He said a few did actually leave the lecture, yet he never regretted staying.

One line of Aoife’s talk really related to my experience writing the LTSP article.

“Don’t be afraid to shift into an area that you enjoy more,” she said.

“You need to be very energetic about what you’re doing in journalism.”

Although she was speaking about journalism, I think her words can relate to any aspect of life. I found an energy that night in the library while writing the piece on the LTSP volunteers. Their actions, giving up their time to save people at their lowest moment, inspired me. They radiated energy, compassion and a realistic outlook on life. People like this make writing easy.

My piece won ‘Best Article’ of the 2024 Student Publication Awards, for Ireland and Northern Ireland. Our paper won the ‘Best Digital’ category and our editor received a highly commended award in the ‘Outstanding Commitment’ category. Each of us were delighted with the achievements and nothing gave us greater pleasure than texting the team back in Limerick to share our success. Our publication is special to us. We work in honour of our late Editor in Chief Joe Drennan who died tragically on October 13 last year. On Friday we felt that he was looking down on us, sharing his kind and compassionate energy.

I will start my volunteering journey with LTSP tonight and I really look forward to becoming one of these volunteers who help people in their darkest moments.

* Gemma Good is from Killeshandra and a fourth year journalism student in University of Limerick