KEY POINTS:
Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the publisher and former British Lions rugby star, has been named the Cannes international media person of the year.
The award to the chief executive of Independent News and Media, the largest shareholder in APN which publishes the Herald, will be presented at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival next month.
Sir Anthony, a former chairman of multinational H.J. Heinz, has led Dublin-based INM since the early 1970s. The company owns and publishes more than 200 newspaper and magazine titles with a combined circulation of more than 32 million in Ireland, Britain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India.
Previous winners of the award include Sumner Redstone, of Viacom, Gerald Levin of AOL Time Warner, Silvio Berlusconi, media magnate and Italian Prime Minister, and Lachlan Murdoch, who was deputy chief executive of News Corporation.
Festival chairman Terry Savage last night described Sir Anthony as one of the world's top media leaders, a "formidable personality with a diverse career".
Sir Anthony said he was honoured to join such an "extraordinary group of people who have made an enormous contribution to the world of media".
The Cannes Lions festival is the biggest international advertising gathering, attended by 10,000 people and highlighting winners from more than 25,000 advertisements.
