The University Times

The University Times (often abbreviated as UT or the UT) is the official student newspaper of Trinity College Dublin. It is financially supported by Trinity College Dublin Students' Union but maintains a mutually agreed policy of editorial independence.

In 2017, it won the award for best all-around non-daily student newspaper in the world, as judged by the US-based Society of Professional Journalists.

In 2015, the newspaper's website had over one million unique readers for the first time. Its print edition, which consists of a broadsheet newspaper, magazine and culture supplement, is published every three weeks during the academic year.

The University Times was founded in 2009 by Robert Donohoe, the then-Communications Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students' Union. It replaced that union's previous paper, The University Record. In his first editorial, Donohoe wrote about the importance of the free press, stating: "Any measure that attempts to impose a chilling effect on the immutable right of a newspaper to print what it is right to print is failing to protect the members of this College. The paper stands for the right to say just as much as it stands for your right to hear."

The newspaper primarily focuses on the happenings of Trinity College Dublin, in addition to wider student and education issues. In 2015, it was the first newspaper to report on the details of a high-profile report from a government working group on higher education funding.

Though it is funded by Trinity College Dublin Students' Union, its editorial line is often critical of the union – something that has led to increasing tensions. Until 2015 the union's Communications Officer served as the paper's editor; the posts were subsequently separated to facilitate the latter's independence. Patrick Prendergast, the Provost of Trinity College Dublin, said in 2019 "The University Times has pursued an independent course in many aspects of College life, and done so fearlessly."

The University Times Magazine, a pull-out magazine that focuses on national and international political and cultural developments, was founded in 2012, with Tommy Gavin serving as its first editor. Radius is the paper's Dublin cultural supplement.

The print edition of The University Times was redesigned in 2014 by the paper's then-Creative Director, Edmund Heaphy, and under the editorship of Leanna Byrne. The paper's nameplate, which had been set in the Utopia typeface since the paper's founding, was redrawn. Headlines and body text were set in the Coranto 2 family, while LFT Etica features as a sans-serif counterpart. In two consecutive years, the design won "Best Overall Newspaper Design" in the Society for News Design's College News Design contest, with one of the judges, San Francisco Chronicle designer Luis Rendon, calling the paper a "powerhouse" for design. In 2015, Heaphy redesigned the paper's website. It subsequently won a similar award from the Society for News Design.