Westport was named Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town at announcement of the winners of the 60th annual national Tidy Towns competition earlier this week in The Helix in Dublin.
The award picked up by Westport is one of the four main categories of winners in the competition. The judges awarded Westport 336 marks in the competition, which saw them pick up a €5,000 prize and a trophy.
Westport has previously won the overall competition on three occasions in 2001, 2006 and 2008 and they were also crowned the Mayo winner in this years competition.
Westport was one of six communities in Mayo to receive special recognition in this year’s awards. The award winners from Mayo were, Castlebar and Westport who both won gold medals and received a prize of €900. Mulranny, Belmullet and Ballina were all awarded bronze medals and a €400 prize, with Mulranny also being specially commended.
Binghamstown was the winner of the Endeavour Award for Mayo and with it a prize of €500. Belmullet was highly commended in the Gaeltach area awards and received a prize of €1,000 and Westport was named the winner of the Young Tidy Towns Committee section of the awards and with it a prize of €500.
On hand to present the prizes was Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring and Martin Kelleher, managing director of SuperValu, the competition’s sponsor for the 27th year.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Minister Ring said: "This is a fantastic achievement for Westport who are very deserving winners of the large town category. I am delighted for the other winners from Mayo. Today, all their dedication and effort has paid off.
"I commend all of the 36 communities from Mayo that entered the competition. Their towns and villages are the better for their participation and we owe the volunteers that got involved a debt of gratitude.
"The voluntary work that people put in to their communities brings great pride, a great sense of achievement and great camaraderie to those communities. That is why this competition has flourished for 60 years."
