About the Awards
The Awards recognise and reward projects with a digital element that have been created by town groups and local communities. They promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. They also highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebrate the digital achievements of local towns, big and small.
Digital offers the opportunity to create new ways of doing things, promote innovation and breathe new life into local communities, making them more attractive places to live and work as well as contributing to a more sustainable future. They are also a chance 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. We have seen some great examples of towns that are using digital and online resources to help renew and reinvigorate their local town.
The .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 are now closed for entries. The gala awards were held on 24 May in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone where the winners were announced, the full list of which can be found here.
| Category | Description | Prize |
| Digital Education | This category is for digital projects in the areas of education, training and development at all levels in the town. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Digital Tourism sponsored by AIB Merchant Services |
This category is for projects that can demonstrate the use of digital technology to attract tourists and deliver a distinctive experience. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Community Digital sponsored by Western Development Commission |
This category is for digital initiatives and projects that support improvements for the community. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Digital Business sponsored by Vodafone |
This category is for projects that can demonstrate creation and implementation of digital strategies to promote businesses in the town. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Agri-tech |
Agri-tech aims to improve farming by using digital technology to improve efficiency and profitability. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Digital Sustainability |
Digital sustainability harnesses digital transformation, such as enhanced connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT), to improve the environment and support sustainable business operations. | Winner €6k
Runner up €4k |
| Newcomer | This category is for projects at the early stage of development that are harnessing the benefits of digital to promote a local initiative. Examples include creating a new website, creating an app, creating social media pages. |
Winner €5k
|
| Digital Rising Star | A Digital Rising Star is a town or group within a town at the start of their digital journey, which is or which has the potential to be a role model for others to follow. They will have the potential to become a digital leader in future. Their digital project or initiative may be small but the passion and ambition behind it will mark them out as a Digital Rising Star. They will demonstrate ambition, creativity and the ability to use digital thinking to disrupt and improve their town. |
Winner €5k |
| Digital Changemaker sponsored by Connected Hubs |
A Digital Changemaker is a group within a town that sees a problem and finds a way to fix it. In doing so, they create a template for others to follow. It’s a group that makes a difference and is motivated to act when they see a problem that needs to be solved. They will demonstrate how they took ownership and kept trying to advance the common good. They will demonstrate how they used digital to achieve their ambition. |
Winner €5k |
| Digital Local Hero |
This will be someone in your community who is an unsung hero, who works tirelessly on initiatives to promote the digital enhancement of the town or a group in the town. Nominations for the Digital Hero should include a description of why the person nominated should win the award. The winner will be chosen at the discretion of the judging panel. | Winner €3k |
| Overall winner | The overall winner will be chosen by the judging panel and will win an additional €10k. | Winner €10k |
Judging: Read full details on the judging criteria and our judging panel.
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FAQs
The .IE Digital Town Awards promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital technologies in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. They also highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebrates the digital achievements of towns across Ireland.
As the national registry for .ie, the ccTLD (country code top level domain) for Ireland, we are also advocates for all things digital and encourage the uptake and use of internet and digital technologies for businesses, citizens and communities. Our support for the awards aligns with our profit-for-good activities.
Yes, if a town has several qualifying digital projects they can be entered as separate projects.
Towns can enter digital projects demonstrating how digital approaches and/or technologies have contributed to the betterment of the town and the wider town community. Projects can relate to enhancements in the following categories Digital Education, Digital Tourism, Community Digital, Digital Business, Agri-tech, Digital Newcomer and Sustainability. Check out previous winners to see what kind of projects won.
An active digital committee or group which encompasses the interests of the whole town and community is welcome to apply.
There is a total prize fund of €100,000. Please see above the full list of categories and prize distribution.
Awards open for entries – 6th February 2023
Awards close – Friday 10th March 2023
Shortlist announced – Monday 17th April 2023
Gala awards ceremony – Wednesday 24th May 2023 (in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone).
The prize money is intended to help towns develop digitally. This could include building a new town website, launching an App, developing a digital hub/coworking space, investing in digital signage, providing digital training and workshops etc.
A bank account is important for transparency and it must be a company, group or local council account and not a personal account.
All terms and conditions can be viewed here.