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The winners of the .ie Digital Town Awards 2024 have been announced.
This year’s finalists covered the full spectrum of idea development and readiness, including those who are early in their digital journey as well as established, sophisticated projects.
Winners shared in the €60,000 total prize fund.
.ie Digital Town Awards 2024 winners
The .ie Digital Town Awards recognise and reward projects with a digital element created by town groups, local communities and individual businesses. Now in their 4th year, the .ie Digital Town Awards shine a light on local projects that have a digital element and promote the use of the internet and digital technologies.
They recognise the positive impact of digital strategies in community organisations, town groups, regional or national collaboration projects, and individual businesses across the country.
A total prize fund of €60,000 was distributed across nine categories at the 2024 award ceremony in Athlone.
Previous winners
FAQs
The .ie Digital Town Awards promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital technologies in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. They also highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebrates the digital achievements of towns across Ireland.
As the national registry for .ie, the ccTLD (country code top level domain) for Ireland, we are also advocates for all things digital and encourage the uptake and use of internet and digital technologies for businesses, citizens and communities. Our support for the awards aligns with our profit-for-good activities.
The Awards are open to community organisations, town groups, regional or national collaboration projects and individual businesses who can demonstrate implementation and impact of digital strategies.
Yes, if a town has several qualifying digital projects they can be entered as separate projects.
Towns can enter digital projects demonstrating how digital approaches and/or technologies have contributed to the betterment of the town and the wider town community. Projects can relate to enhancements in the following categories Digital Education, Digital Tourism, Community Digital, Digital Business, Agri-tech, Digital Newcomer and Sustainability. Check out previous winners to see what kind of projects won.
An active digital committee or group which encompasses the interests of the whole town and community is welcome to apply.
See here for list of judges and see here for outline of judging criteria.
There is a total prize fund of €60,000. Please see above the full list of categories and prize distribution.
Awards open for entries – 29 January 2024
Awards close – 8 March 2024
Shortlist announced – Week of 8 April 2024
Gala awards ceremony – 24 May 2024
The prize money is intended to help towns develop digitally. This could include building a new town website, launching an App, developing a digital hub/coworking space, investing in digital signage, providing digital training and workshops etc.
A bank account is important for transparency and it must be a company, group or local council account and not a personal account.
All terms and conditions can be viewed here.
| Category | Description | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Education | This category is for digital projects in the areas of education, training and development at all levels in the town. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Tourism | This category is for projects that can demonstrate the use of digital technology to attract tourists and deliver a distinctive experience. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Community | This category is for digital initiatives and projects that support improvements for the community. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Business | This category is for projects by town groups or individual businesses that can demonstrate creation and implementation of digital strategies to promote businesses in the town. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Sustainability | Digital sustainability harnesses digital transformation, such as enhanced connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT), to improve the environment and support sustainable business operations. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Newcomer | This category is for projects at the early stage of development that are harnessing the benefits of digital to promote a local initiative. Examples include creating a new website, creating an app, creating social media pages. | €4,000 | €2,000 |
| Digital Rising Star | A Digital Rising Star is a town or group within a town at the start of their digital journey, which is or which has the potential to be a role model for others to follow. They will have the potential to become a digital leader in future. Their digital project or initiative may be small but the passion and ambition behind it will mark them out as a Digital Rising Star. They will demonstrate ambition, creativity and the ability to use digital thinking to disrupt and improve their town. | €3,000 | N/A |
| Digital Changemaker | A Digital Changemaker is a group within a town that sees a problem and finds a way to fix it. In doing so, they create a template for others to follow. It’s a group that makes a difference and is motivated to act when they see a problem that needs to be solved. They will demonstrate how they took ownership and kept trying to advance the common good. They will demonstrate how they used digital to achieve their ambition. | €3,000 | N/A |
| Digital Local Hero | This will be someone in your community who is an unsung hero, who works tirelessly on initiatives to promote the digital enhancement of the town or a group in the town. Nominations for the Digital Hero should include a description of why the person nominated should win the award. The winner will be chosen at the discretion of the judging panel. | €2,000 | N/A |
| Overall Winner | The overall winner will be chosen by the judging panel and will win an additional award. | Additional €5,000 | N/A |