McKay wins ‘Up and Coming’ politician award
Thursday, 16 October 2008
North Antrim MLA and Ballymoney Councillor Daithi McKay who won the ‘Up and Coming Politician of the Year’ award at the Slugger O’Toole Awards held in Belfast recently. Here he sits having his caricature drawn by a well known cartoonist.
RASHARKIN MLA Daithi McKay has just won the award for Up and Coming Politician of the Year at the Slugger O'Toole awards held in the Belfast W5 centre on 7 October .
This is the first year of the 'glittering and glamorous' Slugger Awards from what is the oldest political blog in Northern Ireland.
The organisers want the awards to reward good local governance in Northern Ireland at all levels, and highlight the good things that are happening here and reward effort and interactivity 'with a pat on the back from the blogosphere'.
There were 11 awards in total including for External Representatives (MPs, MEPs and others), Journalism, Local Council of the Year, Local Councillor of the Year, Local Newspaper of the Year, MLA of the Year, Participation and Involvement, Political Blogger, Stormont Committee Chair of the Year, Up-and-coming Politician of the Year and Jobsworth of the Year.
The citation for Daithi McKay by Slugger's creator Mick Fealty on the weblog reads: "Daithi was the youngest of all the MLAs elected on 7 March 2007 Assembly Election. He polled over 7,000 votes and was elected on the first count when he topped the poll. He sits on the Policing Board. For a relative ingenue, he made immediate impacts over plans for the Giant's Causeway Visitor's, which ultimately derailed a dilligent research terrier like vigour and the intense scrutiny generated certainly caused more than ripples.
“He has impressed with his energy courage and commitment to the job. He's also one of the first MLA's (after Dawn Purvis of the DUP) to seriously start his own blog."
The Chronicle asked Cllr Daithi McKay what it felt like to receive the award, "At the end of the day you are only as good as the team behind you. The award is as much down the team as a whole as it is to myself. It is a recognition of the work the party has been doing in North Antrim." said Councillor McKay.
Members of the public make nominations on the Slugger O'Toole weblog and then a panel of judges decided the outcome. Many local politicians look at Slugger to find out what people are saying about them, if anything. Cllr McKay said "Slugger has established itself as a form of media in its own right."
The evening was hosted by Tim McGarry formerly of 'Give my head peace' and winners including Daithi McKay were seated at a table and a top Guardian cartoonist did a caricature of them. It was then framed and given to them on the evening. Commenting on this prize he said "I appreciate the prize. Its something original anyway," on whether he liked his caricature he said "I'm not saying much about that." Cllr McKay has his own blog with can be reached at www.daithimckay.blogspot.com, he says "Well its not a daily diary, but I try to keep people informed about what is going on at the assembly. It helps me keep in touch with constituents about local affairs too. Its important to keep in touch with people on the ground whether it be by news, telephone or the Internet."
