Donegal claimed a top prize at this years .IE Digital Town Awards.
The winners were announced at a Gala event held today in Athlone.
Dunlewey’s Virtual Heritage Trail placed first in the Digital Tourism category and were awarded a €6,000 prize.
Carndonagh’s Digital Creative Lab was announced as runner up in the Digital Education category. They won a €4,000 prize.
Finally, Ardara’s Decreasing Isolation – Increasing Connectedness was commended in Newcomer category.
The initiative seen the installation of 29 voice activated smart speakers in a sheltered housing complex, aiding older residents.
Read the full press release:
Three Donegal projects have been recognised for their efforts and commitment to digital innovation across three categories at this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards. .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names, announced the winning entries for the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 at a Gala event held at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone today.
The awards were created by .IE in 2021, as part of a broader four-year €1 million investment in the .IE Digital Town Programme encouraging the uptake and use of internet and digital technologies for businesses, citizens and communities. The awards recognise and reward digitally inspired projects run by towns and local community groups. Each year the .IE Digital Town Awards offer a prize fund of €100,000 which is split across several categories.
Dunlewey’s Virtual Heritage Trail was the overall winner in the Digital Tourism category, developed to showcase the history and heritage of the village and surrounding area. Storymaps, online exhibitions, online heritage trails and interactive maps were used to tell the digital story while the oral tradition of older people and local farmers was captured. This included names of places, lakes and fields which were recorded for future generations. Original records such as school registration books, were photographed and digital books created. Virtual tours of the local landscape were created.
In Carndonagh, social enterprise Spraoi agus Spórt, opened the Digital Creative Lab where young people use digital fabrication to bring their ideas and creativity to life. Runner up in the Digital Education category and awarded a prize fund of €4,000, the digital creative lab shows young people what digital skills, design entrepreneurship and engineering can offer for their future. It has been rolled out across national and secondary schools in the county and there are high hopes for the contribution of STEM to future job opportunities.
Ardara’s Decreasing Isolation – Increasing Connectedness was commended in the Newcomer category. After broadband was installed in the sheltered housing complex in 2022, all 29 apartments and the public areas were provided with a smart screen/speaker Amazon Echo. This has opened a world of opportunity to residents, particularly as it uses voice activated technology which is easier for older residents than typing. Residents use it for viewing funerals, wedding and church services online; to set reminders from the mundane to the important – from watering flowers to medication times; creating shopping lists; and making video calls or participating in an online singing circle.
In total, 22 town and community digital projects were recognised at this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 – winners and runners-up across the seven main categories, three special category winners and one overall prize winner. The .IE Digital Sustainability award was a new category introduced this year with Hollymount in Mayo announced as the winner with its Eco-Powered Cabinets which store life-saving equipment.
This year’s category sponsors included Western Development Commission, Connected Hubs, and AIB Merchant Services with Vodafone as the overall presenting sponsor.
Oonagh McCutcheon, National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme said ‘The quality of entries in this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards has been incredibly impressive. Ireland’s towns and communities are identifying and solving connectivity challenges, driving digital innovation and developing creative digital solutions to enhance the lives of their fellow citizens. This year 22 projects were recognised at the .IE Digital Town Awards Gala event, which add significantly to the lives of their local communities and improves our nation’s digital footprint.’
Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond said “I want to congratulate all the winners of this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards. The 22 groups honoured at this year’s awards are great examples of how by embracing digitalisation, even small groups can make a big difference to their local communities, friends and neighbours. Congratulations again to all the winners, and thank you to every group that entered this year’s awards.”
Representing Vodafone, Sinéad Bryan, Managing Director, Vodafone Business said, “At Vodafone, our goal is to be a connectivity and technology partner to our customers the length and breadth of Ireland. We are delighted to support the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 which cements our commitment to powering inclusion through technology and enabling a better Ireland through use of digital.”
