Hello again friends! It's about to be 2019 (jesus I'm old...) and that means it's time to look back at what you've done in 2018, and to decide on if you want to be proud of what you accomplished or when you should really start apologising...But for the UCC-I mean...University Express... that means it's time for us to reveal what you read the most this year! But first...
Honourable Mentions
Some of our most read articles this year were actually published in 2017...Whoops.'An Interview with CallMeKevin' (Kieran Barrett, March 2017) and 'Rainbow Six: Siege – The FPS Anomaly' (Jack O'Doherty, October 2017) both would have placed in the top ten, which shows that gaming content is apparently timeless, and popular. Hmm.And our most viewed page of the year was also the Home page, which makes sense when you think about it.If you're reading this towards the end of 2019, and wondered how articles from December 2018 didn't make it in...well... not to pull the curtain back too much, this article was written early in the last month of 2018, so some obvious candidates may be missing.Want to know what the most-read articles for 2017 were? Click here!
10. Patriotic Arts Student Fails English, by Callum Casey
(Originally published on February 22nd 2018)
A bit of comedy to kick us off, and in a year dominated by talks of hard borders and soft Brexits it was a dead cert that something about Irish Republicanism/Nationalism would make its way on the list. Michael Leary, a totally real first year arts student, reportedly failed all his first year english exams. Naturally this is the impetus for a turf war between on-campus republican groups and the English department, only ending when, among rumours he had failed foundation level Irish, busted out Geibheann and ascended into the celtic pantheon aside Cúchulainn and Fionn MacCumhaill.(Read the full article here).
9. #UCCVotes – Candidate Profiles, by Samantha Calthrop
(Originally published on March 5th 2018)
2018 was a great year for SU elections, having the highest turnout in many many years. That's down to informed voters going to the polls and using their democratic power to vote for who they wanted on their SU... but how do they become informed voters? By reading our candidate profiles of course! (and no other way, not possible)Then-Staff Writer, current Opinion Editor Samantha Calthrop took charge, contacting all candidates to ask them biting questions about their manifestos, their ideas, and what they would do should they be elected.(Read the full article here).
8. Investigation Underway At UCC Into Allegations Of Sexual Harassment, by Molly O'Rourke
(Originally published on February 15th 2018)
2018 was the year of #MeToo, and with it came a more a culture of acceptance for people to come forward to talk about their experiences of abuse. The article, written by then-Deputy News Editor Molly O'Rourke, talks about a number of allegations against staff members in UCC that had come to light because of several Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests.If you are affected by the content of this article, or even the short blurb above, you can contact the Cork Sexual Violence Centre for judgement-free support.(Read the full article here).
7. Irish Bloggers and Influencers are Being Put Under the Microscope, by Iris Maher
(Originally published on February 5th 2018)
Months before the people of Ireland needed to know who was behind Bloggers Unveiled, then-Fashion Editor Iris Maher told us all about 'bullshitcallerouter', a private Instagram account that showed how influencers deceived their fans using Photoshop to manipulate images to portray a version of themselves that mightn't necessarily be the truth. The account was ran by a person who went by 'Aoibhinn' but was later closed under suspicious circumstances.(Read the full article here).
6. What Bob Dylan’s Nobel win means for lyricists, by Robert McDonnell
(Originally published on February 11th 2018)
Compiling lists like these is like watching a very disorientating episode of Reeling in the Years. This entry exemplifies that, because I saw it in the list and went 'oh yeah, that was a massive news story at the time. Forgot about that.' Which is fine to say when it's a tv show about the year that was 1978 (great year for pop music, by the way), but not something that was only ten months ago...Robert McDonnell took us through Bob Dylan's winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and how that would impact the work of lyricists both in the future and retrospectively.(Read the full article here).
5. No One Believes Your Eating Disorder When You’re Not Thin, by Niamh O'Gorman
(Originally published on January 24th 2018)
The article contains detailed discussion of eating disorders. If you are likely to be negatively affected by this you may not want to continue reading. If you are affected by the article, you can contact the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland’s helpline on 1890 200 444, or the Samaritans on 116 123.The first 'Features' article of the list so far, and one that it's especially unfair of to surmise in a brief paragraph here. So...(Read the full article here).
4. #UCCVotes – Express straw poll results, by Rob O'Sullivan
(Originally published on March 7th 2018)
Elections are always a busy time of year, especially for candidates, but especially for your poor, long-suffering student media orgs. I mean, they book Pat Fitz nearly every year to play the results night, and that's both cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me...*ahem*Every year we do straw polls on how people intend on voting. In 2018 we successfully called all but two of the elections, with Irish Officer and Ents bucking the trend. Here's hoping for 100% accuracy this year, eh?(Read the full article here).
3. The Right Frame of Mind: How A Cork Student Is Shaping The Way We Talk About Mental Health, by Cailean Coffey
(Originally published on October 8th 2018)
Mental health proves to be a prominent topic for students going into 2019, as this article by current Editor-in-Chief Cailean Coffey places in the top 3 most-read articles of 2018, despite having only been published in October.Cailean sat down with former CIT student Edvinas Maciulevicius, whose documentary on mental health featured several UCC students & alumni, shortly before his film's debut on RTÉ. Also known as Our Mental Health, the film has sadly since disappeared from the RTÉ Player, but will hopefully appear online sometime soon.(Read the full article here).
2. Connolly Youth Movement Disrupt Simon Coveney Event in UCC, by Ciaran Dineen
(Originally published on October 10th 2018)
When a senior government minister comes to campus it's big news anyway, but when activists disrupt the minister and call him a “smug scum f**k b*****d” (among other things) well, now that's serious gossip.Members of the Connolly Youth Movement disrupted a house meeting hosted by UCC's YFG Society featuring the Tánaiste, Simon Coveney, to call what they felt is Mr. Coveney's Fine Gael government's failure to deal with the ongoing homelessness crisis.I'm not doing justice to the event, or to the story written by News Editor Ciaran Dineen, so give it a read.(Read the full article here).
1. A chat with journalist turned barrister and proud mother of five – Aileen Hickey, by Ciara Dinneen
(Originally published on April 9th 2018)
The award for most-read article of the year goes to this wonderful interview conducted by then-Features Editor now-Byline Editor Ciara Dinneen!Ciara sat down with Aileen Hickey, journalist turned barrister & mother of five, to talk about her childhood, her career with publications like the Sunday World, her marriage to radio presenter Matt Cooper and her sudden career change at age 28.(Read full article here).And there we have it! The top ten articles of 2018 on UCCExpress.ie. Thanks for reading this article, and I hope you have a wonderful 2019!As always, special thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy of the Express, followed us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and read articles on this very website, for your continued support. A massive thanks also goes out to all the writers and contributors to the Express in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years, particularly to all the staff members & editors, for their tireless work in making the paper what it is. We would also like to thank Kieran from UCC 98.3fm, as well as Fidelma, Vince and the SU Officers for their help & support throughout the year.