South Dublin lands two national prizes at the .IE Digital Town Awards 2022

Crumlin has won the Community Digital prize at the second annual .IE Digital Town Awards 2022, while Dún Laoghaire local Eoin Costello scooped the individual prize of Digital Local Hero for his tireless work to encourage the digital agenda in his own locality and further afield.

The results were announced last Wednesday 8 June, at a virtual awards ceremony attended by Minister Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The .IE Digital Town Awards were established in 2021 by .IE, the managers of Ireland’s trusted online .ie address.

The awards recognise local town and community projects and the people that are using digital innovation, technologies, and digital-first thinking for the betterment of towns, citizens, and services in the community.

As winner of the Community Digital category, Crumlin won a total prize of €9,000, in recognition for the development and implementation of effective digital strategies that have enabled the locality to successfully communicate, educate and enable residents to take part and learn about environmental activities and issues.

David Curtin – .IE CEO, Oonagh McCutcheon – National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme and Minister Damien English

Eoin Costello representing Dun Laoghaire town who were the Digital Local Hero award winners pictured with MC for the event Jess Kelly at the “Winners of .IE Digital Town Awards 2022

Dún Laoghaire’s Eoin Costello picked up a special prize of €3,000 for what judges described as his can-do attitude, real world skills, drive and enthusiasm in communicating and sharing the benefits of digitalisation.

Piltown in Co Kilkenny was announced as the overall winner with the judging panel commending the community for its “extraordinary resolve and determination in putting their town on the digital map.” It involved landowners granting access to land and volunteers working to lay more than 6km of cables, training as fibre optic technicians and providing crucial expertise pro bono.

Piltown is believed to be Ireland’s first community owned and managed FTTP ‘fibre to the premises’ network and has resulted in the creation of a local digital hub and community centre that serves 37 groups in the area. The team behind the project believe that its success could be replicated in other towns and communities through shared experience and learnings.

This year’s awards had a focus on communities and digital leaders that have adopted new ways of thinking to enhance localities through innovative use of digital tools to provide digital equity in the community, close the digital divide, facilitate emergency response, improve digital infrastructure, and enable digitisation of culture and oral traditions.

Projects were shortlisted in the categories of digital education, digital tourism, community digital as well as digital business, while three special prizes honouring individuals and communities making significant difference to the digital betterment in local towns were also awarded under the categories of digital rising star, digital changemaker and digital local hero.

Congratulating the high calibre of entries, Minister English said: “The awards are an important annual event that recognise the remarkable efforts made by our local digital champions who are determined to futureproof the places where they work, rest and play. The bar this year has been set exceptionally high, with many inspiring examples of digital leaders in our communities that are transforming local life and society in innovative and creative ways.”

There was a total prize fund of €100,000 across seven award categories. 13 counties had one or more project nominated including Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo.

The full list of category winners and runners up include:

?             Community Digital, sponsored by Western Development Commission

Winner – Crumlin: Connecting Crumlin’s Community. (Prize: €9,000)

Runner up – Limerick: Tiny Little Histories. (Prize: €5,000)

Commended – East Galway: Galway Wild Geese. (Prize €2,000)

Commended – Castleisland: Castleisland Market Town: A New Digital Age. (Prize €2,000)

?             Digital Education

Winner – Sligo: Online Learning Project Manager. (Prize: €9,000)

Runner up – Murroe: Scoutus Interruptus: How Digital Technology Helped Keep Us Scouting Through the Time of Covid. (Prize: €5,000)

?             Digital Tourism, sponsored by AIB Merchant Services

Winner – Gleann Cholm Cille: Building a digital cultural infrastructure for our community. (Prize: €9,000)

Runner up – Ballyvaughan: Linking the physical and digital worlds via interactive signage. (Prize: €5,000)

Commended – Ballincollig: Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills: Mobile Phone App. (Prize €2,000)

?             Digital Business, sponsored by Vodafone

Winner – Piltown: Taking Charge of our Digital Future. (Prize: €9,000)

Runner up – Westport: Where no Westport business gets left behind. (Prize: €5,000)

?             Digital Rising Star

Winner – Cootehill: St Patrick’s Day celebration. (Prize: €8,500)

?             Digital Changemaker, sponsored by Connected Hubs

Winner – Roscommon Town: Roscommon Rapid Response Team. (Prize: €8,500)

?             Digital Local Hero

Eoin Costello, Dún Laoghaire Town. (Prize: €3,000)

?             Overall winner: Piltown, Taking Charge of our Digital Future. (Prize: €10,000)

Commenting on the announcement .IE Corporate Communications Manager Oonagh McCutcheon said:

“We would like to congratulate all of our winners, runners up and commended entries today and celebrate their tremendous achievements.

“The purpose of the .IE Digital Town Awards is to shine a light on the digital efforts being made by towns and their people working for the betterment of their localities across the country.

“What we celebrate today through the winners, runners up, those commended and, indeed, all of those shortlisted, is a phenomenal level of resilience and spirit of local towns and local communities. In the case of all our finalists and winners today, the results have been transformative.

“At .IE, we hope that the Crumlin community as well as Mr. Costello’s efforts in Dún Laoghaire, and all of our other winners, runners up and nominees can become an inspiration to other towns and communities around the country and, ultimately, help to breathe new life into local communities through demonstration of novel and innovative ways of using digital tools.

“What we have seen are outstanding examples of how communities and digital leaders have stepped up and adopted new ways of thinking and doing, helping their towns and communities to not only survive but thrive.”

The .IE Digital Town Awards, announced by .IE in 2021 as part of its overall .IE Digital Town programme, is part of four-year €1 million investment initiative focused on digital enhancement and digital technology adoption in Ireland’s towns.

This year’s category sponsors included Western Development Commission, Connected Hubs, Vodafone, and AIB Merchant Services.