Mary Mulvihill has won the Science and Technology Journalist of the Year award for her book Ingenious Ireland.
The former Irish Timesjournalist received the award today from the Tánaiste Ms Harney, at a ceremony at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
Ingenious Ireland,published by Townhouse, details the sometimes little-known achievements of Irish inventors and their contribution to Ireland's industrial heritage. It also serves as an account of the development of features of the Irish landscape both natural and man-made.
"I hope it's a book that people will dip into and discover something new about our heritage and be a an encouragement to people to go out and see these things," a delighted Ms Mulvihill told ireland.com.
The judging panel described the book as "a meticulously researched and hugely impressive book".
Now in its fourth year, the awards are part of the Government's Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Awareness Programme. They are co-sponsored by IBM Ireland and the STI programme. The judging panel was chaired by RTE broadcaster Pat Kenny, who also acted as MC at the event.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Tánaiste said she hoped the awards would "play an important role in encouraging the expansion of coverage of Science and Technology issues across the full range of media outlets".
The winner of the broadcast award went to Food for Thought and Money to Burna two-part Prime Timeprogramme produced by Tara Peterman and reported by Mike Milotte.
The programme uncovered disturbing facts about the disparity between official BSE figures for Ireland (1,000) and the number of BSE-infected Irish cattle have entered the human food chain (over 20,000).
"The producers succeeded in weaving together the latest scientific research, analysis of current government policy, and ordinary lay concerns, in a totally comprehensible fashion", panel of judges said.
The overall winner in the print category was an article by Tom Kennedy called 'Sight for the Blind' published in Technology Irelandmagazine.
The article covered a bioengineering project at the National Microelectronics Research Centre in Cork, where light sensitive microchips are helping to restore vision to the blind. "The article combines an excellent scientific insight with flair and integrity ... Scientific journalism at its best," the panel said.