Four South Dublin town groups and Local Heroes shortlisted in the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023

.IE, the national registry for .ie domain names, has announced that four entries from South Dublin town groups have been shortlisted for the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023.

The awards, now in their 3rd year and have welcomed Vodafone as a partner for 2023, recognise and reward projects created by town groups and local communities that have a digital element, supporting Ireland’s digital development.

The shortlisted entries include:

Blackrock, Cycling Without Age (CWA) has been shortlisted in the Community Digital category, which is proudly sponsored by Western Development Commission.  CWA is a sustainable, voluntary initiative using specially designed trishaws to take people unable to cycle for free, slow-cycling spins, piloted by volunteer pilots.  Trips are not rushed – there is time to stop and feed the ducks, get an ice-cream, talk to people, watch children at play.  Social media was a key tool in raising awareness and sharing success stories, a website was developed to provide more information and an online booking facility was developed.  CWA enables older, less mobile people to take part and enjoy life.

Dun Laoghaire’s Cybersafe Kids tool has been shortlisted in the Digital Education category. The Cybersafe Tool for Schools is a free digital self-assessment for primary schools so principals can get a clear snapshot of where their school stands in terms of online safety. Cybersafe is a fully digital initiative to ensure school communities are stronger, smarter and safer online and includes valuable resources to help schools continue to develop their online safety.  Schools that complete the process are awarded a badge, demonstrating their commitment to online safety.

Miriam Spollen, founder of Connections Art Centre in Rathgar has been shortlisted in the Digital Local Hero category.  Since its inception in April 2021, Connections Art Centre has become a thriving creative hub with inclusivity at its core. Founder Miriam, who has over 20 years’ experience as well as a lived experience of disability herself, has a keen sense of what success looks like. She has pioneered projects showcasing the capability of the disability community to engage with technology, something which was previously underestimated. She has nurtured a safe, supportive space which allows its members to blossom through creative programmes in the areas of art, music, lifestyle.

Clara Clark founder of Cycle Without Age has also been shortlisted in the Digital Local Hero category.  Clara brought CWA to Ireland with the belief that people of all ages and abilities deserve the opportunity to engage with their community by providing access to assisted trishaw rides, whether it be to get out and admire a view or share stories with their pilot. Through digital collaboration, this voluntary group has grown to provide 60 trishaws nationwide. It’s running in nursing homes and within the local community, offering a new social, sustainable model of active travel. Clara grew this programme from the ground up by setting up various forms of digital communication and works tirelessly to benefit the community.

Crumlin’s Change Clothes has been shortlisted in the Digital Sustainability and Digital Changemaker category proudly sponsored by Connected Hubs for its sustainable solution of swapping clothes and preventing over 32 tonnes of carbon admissions. It also emphasises re-learning skills such as mending, sewing and upcycling. They have invested in building a website which includes events booking and equipment hire feature.  They are leveraging social media and personalised email marketing to build awareness.

In addition, national suicide charity Turn2Me, has also been shortlisted in the Community category. The fully online, digital platform offers free counselling and peer support in a safe, anonymous confidential space, eliminating barriers to accessing support including cost, waiting lists and travel time.

Congratulating the finalists, National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme Oonagh McCutcheon said “At .IE, our purpose is to enable and empower people, communities and businesses across Ireland to thrive online and we are advocates for all things digital at all levels. The .IE Digital Town Awards are a celebration of the incredible work being undertaken at a local level to promote innovation and breathe new life into local communities. The awards also afford the opportunity to recognise and show appreciation to the volunteers across the country who devote their spare time working tirelessly to enhance their local area, towns and villages and we look forward to celebrating all of our finalists at our Gala Awards ceremony in May.”

Chair of the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 judging committee Joan Mulvihill added “The calibre of entries we received for this years’ awards has been astounding – I speak on behalf of my fellow judges when I say that we were blown away by the wealth of stories and commend each and every entrant who took the time to complete an application.  The digital future looks incredibly bright when we look at adoption of digital technology to solve everyday problems in towns and communities across the country.”

The awards offer a prize fund of €100,000 which is split across the 10 categories. Winners will be announced at a Gala Awards event on Wednesday 24th May.

Follow .IE on Twitter and at #DigitalTownAwards

The .IE Digital Towns Awards is an initiative of .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names.

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