Dingle Peninsula is the overall winner of the .IE Digital Town Awards 2021
Dingle Peninsula’s ‘Reimagining Creatively through Digital’ project was announced as overall winner at the inaugural .IE Digital Town Awards, which took place on Thursday 10 June.
The .IE Digital Town Awards were launched earlier this year to honour local town projects and people that have demonstrated how digital projects have contributed to enhancements or digital improvements in areas such as health, tourism, education, public services, employment opportunities, citizen empowerment, and social entrepreneurship.
Overall Winner 2021
Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry was crowned the overall winner by Minister Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
At a virtual awards ceremony, the town was chosen from the five town category winners as overall winner. In addition to winning the Small Town category prize of €9,000, Dingle Peninsula was awarded an additional prize of €10,000 – bringing its total prize winnings to €19,000.
Pictured (l-r) with Maggie Breen from Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub were Oonagh McCutcheon, Corporate Communications Manager .IE; David Curtin, Chief Executive .IE with Minister Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The aim of the awards was to ‘Shine a Light’ on the good work and achievements of towns that demonstrated digital thinking and innovation for the betterment of local people, services, and society.
There was a total prize fund of €100,000 across 14 award categories. Eleven of the awards were for individual town projects, with a further three special awards recognising a Digital Changemaker, a Digital Rising Star, and a Digital Hero.
Reimagining creatively through digital
Dingle Peninsula came out on top for their innovative project ‘Reimagining Creatively Through Digital’. The focus of the Dingle team was on promoting innovation and imagining new ways of doing things through digital.
Among the highlights was a pilot initiative to increase sustainability and productivity by collecting ‘real-time’ data using sensor technology such as current and predicted weather and soil conditions, and grass growth rates. This will result in carbon efficiencies that can extend the grazing season. Localised ‘real-time’ weather data also enabled tourism providers to tailor tourist packages based on changing weather conditions.
Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up
Read the full list of category winners and runners-up.
Oonagh McCutcheon, Corporate Communications Manager of .IE said “We congratulate all of our winners and runners up today and celebrate with them their great achievements.
“When we launched the .IE Digital Town Awards earlier this year, we wanted to shine a light on the incredible digital efforts being made by towns and their people across the country.
What the winners, runners-up and finalists show is the resilience and spirit of local towns, local people and local communities in creating their own opportunities by using digital for the betterment of local life and society.
“In the case of all our finalists and winners today, the results have been transformative.
“Our judging panel was particularly impressed by Dingle Peninsula, who showed creativity and overall excellence in delivering a unique and lasting impact on the town.
“We hope our winners and runners-up can become an inspiration to towns and communities around the country and show them how digital technologies can create new ways of doing things, promote innovation and breathe new life into local communities.”
The .IE Digital Town Awards mark the first phase of a €1 million investment to be delivered over the next four years, with a particular focus on digital enhancement and adoption in Ireland’s towns as part of our overall .IE Digital Town programme.
Naomi Temple is our Marketing Specialist working within our corporate communications team.