Digital Town Awards 2021 Shortlist for €100,000 Prize

30 Projects have been recognised for their ‘unique digital contribution’ to their town and are all in for a chance of winning a share of the €100,000 prize, winner announced June 10th.

The Digital Town Awards, set up by .IE, the company that maintains Ireland’s online domain name, was launched earlier this year to highlight local town projects. These digital projects and improvements range across areas like health, tourism, education, public services, social entrepreneurship, etc.

Those shortlisted projects range from early-stage projects to more developed ventures, there are 14 awards across various categories, all of which are in for a share of the total €100,000 prize. 11 of these awards will be given to individual town projects, with a further three special awards titled “Digital Changemaker”, “Digital Rising Star”, and “Digital Hero”.

Digital Town Awards Contenders

After a thorough competitive judging process by an independent panel, the winning projects will be announced, ranging across categories of sustainability, automation, cultural diversity, social inclusion, and promoting local business. 15 counties have one or more projects nominated, including Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Offaly, Sligo, and Wexford.

.IE Corporate communications Manager Oonagh McCutchteon said, “The .IE Digital Town Awards want to recognise the good work and achievements of towns across Ireland who have utilised digital technologies to create new ways of doing things, promote innovation and to breathe new life into local communities.”

“What is evident from the projects that were submitted for this year’s awards is that towns upand down the country have an extraordinary sense of resourcefulness and spirit. Those shortlisted in today’s announcement have demonstrated impressive digital improvements and enhancements in their local town, and the .IE Digital Town awards aims to ‘shine a light’ on these efforts.”

In terms of the projects the categories are broken down by size, aside from the special categories, so we will include the counties in each category. Of the category of Village, under 2,500 people, there is Kerry twice, Arranmore islands, and Clare. Of Small Town, between 2,500 and 5000, there is Cork twice, Longford, Kerry and Dublin.

Medium-sized towns, between 5000-10,000, Mayo, Cork twice, Galway. Of Large Town, over 10,000, Louth and Kerry, of Urban Centre, Dublin three times. In the special category of Rising Star, there is Cavan, Sligo, Carlow and Offaly’s project nominated, in the special category Changemaker there is Clare, Cork twice, and Galway.

Finally of the special category Digital Hero, there is Donegal, Laois, Wexford, and Dublin 3. To see the full list and more information, visit the link here.