Westport was announced as runner-up in the Digital Business category at the second annual .IE Digital Town Awards 2022.
The result was announced this week at a virtual awards ceremony attended by Minister Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The .IE Digital Town Awards were established in 2021 by .IE, the managers of Ireland’s trusted online .ie address.
The awards recognise local town and community projects and the people that are using digital innovation, technologies, and digital-first thinking for the betterment of towns, citizens, and services in the community.
As runner-up in the Digital Business category, Westport’s ‘Where no Westport business gets left behind’ won a total prize of €5,000 in recognition for working closely with a new e-commerce platform designed to support local business and connect communities.
Piltown in Kilkenny was announced as the overall winner with the judging panel commending the community for its "extraordinary resolve and determination in putting their town on the digital map." It involved landowners granting access to land and volunteers working to lay more than 6km of cables, training as fibre optic technicians and providing crucial expertise pro bono.
This year’s awards had a focus on communities and digital leaders that have adopted new ways of thinking to enhance localities through innovative use of digital tools to provide digital equity in the community, close the digital divide, facilitate emergency response, improve digital infrastructure, and enable digitisation of culture and oral traditions.
Projects were shortlisted in the categories of digital education, digital tourism, community digital as well as digital business, while three special prizes honouring individuals and communities making significant difference to the digital betterment in local towns were also awarded under the categories of digital rising star, digital changemaker and digital local hero.
