'Independent' chief O'Reilly honoured in media awards

Sir Anthony O'Reilly, chief executive of Independent News & Media (INM), has been honoured as Media Person of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, one of the most prestigious awards in the global communications industry.

The festival's organisers described Sir Anthony as "one of the world's top media leaders" and said the award was given in recognition of his leadership of INM as a "fast-growing international media and communications group".

INM, one of the world's leading international newspaper companies, has grown into what the festival said was a "geographically unique and diverse portfolio of market-leading brands", with operations spanning four continents, 10 major markets and 22 countries. Over the course of nearly 40 years, Sir Anthony has grown the business to more than 200 newspaper and magazine titles, with a combined weekly circulation of more than 32 million copies and a global weekly audience of more than 100 million. It is a portfolio that includes The Independent and market-leading titles in Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and India, where INM's Dainik Jagran is the world's most-read newspaper.

Describing Sir Anthony as "one of the world's top media leaders", Terry Savage, chairman of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, said: "We are delighted to honour Sir Anthony, a formidable personality with a diverse career, in recognition of his business proficiency and leadershipskills of a top internationalmedia organisation."

The honour is an indication of the status of both INM and Sir Anthony within the international advertising industry. In previous years it has been awarded to such prominent media business figures as Jean-Claude Decaux, president of the JCDecaux Group, Sumner Redstone, chairman and CEO of Viacom, Gerald Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner, Arnaud Lagardère, chairman and CEO of Lagardère Group, Silvio Berlusconi, Gunter Thielen, chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, and Tsuneo Watanabe, chairman and editor-in-chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings.

Sir Anthony said: "I am extremely honoured to join such an extraordinary group of people who have made an enormous contribution to the world of media."

A former international rugby player who represented Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians, Sir Anthony led the HJ Heinz Company, one of the world's largest food marketing companies, for nearly 30 years until 2000.

Since then he has continued to build INM as a global media business. The company is the largest radio operator in Australasia, with 130 stations, and is the leading outdoor advertising operator in Australasiaand Africa.

Philip Thomas, CEO of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, said: "The Media Person of the Year is awarded to a leading media figure who has through their leadership and vision created outstanding media companies on a scale that impacts on many people's lives. It was therefore very natural to select Sir Anthony O'Reilly who leads a diverse media company that covers several continents and several media platforms."

Sir Anthony will be presented with his award during the Press, Cyber and Design Lions Awards Ceremony next month in the Palais des Festivalsin Cannes.