In a 2011 article in the Irish Independent, also owned by INM, it was described as one of Ireland's "leading regional newspaper[s]".

[3] In 2009, the newspaper featured in the British soap opera Coronation Street when character Peter Barlow told his grandmother Blanche Hunt that his girlfriend had "an aunt who knew all about the headlines in The Sligo Champion".

Writer Simon Crowther wished to mention an Irish newspaper (as Peter's girlfriend was of Irish extraction) and Crowther had recalled a copy he had seen while on holiday in Sligo many years previously.

[4] In September 2010, the paper changed from broadsheet to tabloid format.

[citation needed] In September 2011, The Sligo Champion celebrated its 175th birthday, attended by, among others, the then Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte.