The winners of the awards, which are organised by the Illustrators Guild of Ireland, were announced at the United Arts Club in Dublin, with Rooney topping the poll in the two most prestigious categories, with an illustration that appeared in Hot Press late in 2005.

Rooney took both the Best Editorial Illustration Award and the Best Overall Illustration Award for a work entitled 'Liberation' (pictured). The illustration depicts a Bhurka-clad woman dipping her toe in the water, while in the background the oil fields burn. The winners of the 2006 awards were selected by an international panel of experts, including the renowned Welsh born and San Francisco based illustrator, Michael Gillette.

"The honour is thoroughly deserved," Hot Press editor Niall Stokes commented. "It is the mark of a great contributor that everyone on the editorial and design team at Hot Press looks forward to getting David's work each fortnight with a huge sense of anticipation and excitement. He has a wonderfully original perspective, is technically brilliant and is never afraid to make a powerful statement. We are really proud to publish the superb and challenging work, which David produces, in Hot Press every issue."

David Rooney began working with Hot Press during the 1980s. His highly distinctive and edgy Hot Press illustrations have frequently been a source of controversy. Most notably, a huge furore greeted an illustration published by Hot Press at the time of the release of the Ferns Report, and entitled The Good Priest, which graphically depicted a priest masturbating.

A graduate of the National College of Art and design, where he is a guest lecturer, Rooney specialises in 'scraperboard' work. His work has been published in Germany, France, Japan, the UK and Ireland. He has a regular editorial slot in Hot Press, every fortnight.