Dawn Egan
The Irish News
Dawn fell ill at the end of September 2023 and, tragically, died just three weeks later. Her cancer diagnosis and the speed of her death was shocking.
Her loss is most keenly felt by her own family. But it has also left a void in her Irish News family, both among her colleagues and the readers with whom she formed a bond through her weekly wine column and editing our listings.
Dawn was not only highly experienced but also had the design flair that made her a perfect fit for features. Any newsroom would miss a page designer of Dawn's qualities but perhaps above all, her colleagues were always in awe of both her speed and the volume of pages she could produce. Remarkably, given the number of pages she would get through each week, Dawn worked largely free-hand rather than in templates. Dawn's work included everything from arranging tricky cut-out images for a fashion spread and subbing contributor copy for a lifestyle column to presenting sensitive human interest stories and colourful band interviews in the most appropriate and eye-catching way.
The examples included with this entry can only scratch the surface of Dawn's contribution. She gave Rod Stewart the star treatment on the printed page that his celebrity justified, as reflected in the confident use of full-page picture to lead our double-page spread interview with a genuine rock legend who has a particular affinity with Irish audiences and Irish News readers in particular. Drawing on the colours of Rod’s outfits is a neat illustration of how a thoughtful production journalist can bring together image, text and design so that they form a complementary whole.
The interview with Paul Clark, a prominent Northern Ireland broadcast journalist, required finding the right balance between serving the copy and carefully sourcing a selection of images to illustrate his career, which began at The Irish News. In a three-page treatment of a Great British Bake Off feature, from our Monday Life section - showcases her work on the new design direction The Irish News embarked upon in September. It stands out from our earlier approach with a bold use of white space. Dawn had been working in advance on the new designs and layouts and was excited about seeing them rolled out. It wasn't to be; she became ill on the day these pages were published – September 25, the new-look paper’s launch date – and did not return to her Mac.
Highly skilled, unflappable and a wonderful colleague and servant of The Irish News and its readers, Dawn did not seek plaudits and praise during her illustrious career. It would be a fitting tribute if her remarkable contribution received wider recognition.