Clare County Council is seeking out local communities, projects and housing estates interested in representing Clare in the 2017 IPB Pride of Place competition.
The annual all-island competition, which is run in association with Co-operation Ireland and local authorities North and South, aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that communities make to society along with generating awareness, respect and inclusion for every facet of society.
Clare County Council Rural Development Directorate may nominate one group per category, providing the total number nominated does not exceed five. Judging for Pride of Place 2017 takes place between June and August, with winners, runners up and special award recipients receiving a trophy and a small monetary prize at November’s awards ceremony.
There are 11 categories under which communities can enter. They include three themes: Community based Youth Initiative, Creative Place Initiative, Communities Reaching Out Initiative and five population categories for locations with less than 300 people; 300-1000 people; 1,000-2,000 people; 2,000-5,000 people and more than 5,000 people. The remaining categories are Urban Neighbourhoods, Housing Estates, and Islands and Coastal Communities.
Clare was represented in the 2016 competition by Clare Bus in the Reaching Out Initiative category and Ogonnelloe Exchange in the Community Enterprise Initiative category. The County has enjoyed considerable success in Pride of Place during recent years, including a first place award to Doonbeg Community Development in 2015, Killaloe and Tuamgraney’s Runner-Up finishes in 2014 and Miltown Malbay’s first place award in 2013. Clare County Council also won a special award in 2014 for its contribution to the competition since it was first established in 2003.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.