Watty Grahams' success story 'Becoming Kings' honoured at MacNamee Awards

The winners of the 2024 MacNamee Awards have been confirmed by the GAA, and among the top honorees is Watty Grahams GAC, who secured the award for Best GAA Club Publication for their book 'Becoming King'.

These annual awards are presented in recognition of outstanding contributions made by individuals and Association units in the area of media and communications, named after the late Pádraig MacNamee, former President of the GAA, Chairman of the GAA Commission (1969-1971) and member of the RTÉ authority. 

The fantastic book Watty Grahams GAC 'Becoming Kings' charts the wonderful success story of Watty Graham’s and their bid to become AIB All Ireland Club Champions.

'Becoming Kings' receives the honours because of the fascinating story of the quest for the county title, combined with the overall aesthetic of the book. In a world where short attention spans reign supreme, the authors keep the reader enthralled with clever editing and bitesize anecdotes enhanced by a great collection of photographs. 

'Becoming Kings' captures a moment in time and highlights the love of club that supersedes all else for everyone in the GAA. 

The sleek design, fantastic imagery and beautifully put together text ensured this book stood out in a very tough category.

Writing a book for your club requires a huge amount of research, fact finding and editing and the judges wish to give enormous credit to all who entered this year.

Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns said: “It is very fitting that the MacNamee Awards will be presented on November 1 – the calendar anniversary of the formation of the GAA 141 years ago, and the birth of a movement that was inspired in part by writers and journalists.

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“From those earliest days the GAA was acutely aware of the importance of communication and of the need to be able to tell our story and have our voice heard. The passing decades have served to only make this ever more crucial.

“These are turbulent times in the media industry and an initiative like the MacNamee Awards allows us to recognise professionals who excel in the coverage of our games, coverage that we greatly value as we promote the GAA.”