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4 Xplore Towns Shortlisted for Digital Town Awards
We would like to extend a huge congratulations to Tralee, Fermoy, Portumna and Youghal — a selection of towns on our platform that have been shortlisted for the Digital Town Awards.
The Digital Town Awards is run by .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names. The awards aim to 'promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities.' With a total prize fund of €100,000 up for grabs — distributed across 14 categories — the prizes can make a huge difference to small communities in particular who are just starting out on their digital journey.
Fermoy
Fermoy has been shortlised in the 'Large Town' category, alongside Youghal, Ballinasloe and Westport. Michael Lyons, Chairman of Fermoy Forum, had the following to say:
'We are thrilled to be shortlisted. We feel we have a great product and are thankful that the judges have taken the time to consider our digital presence.
We are particularly proud of our digital voucher. We have Cork County Council to thank, who, under project ACT, took a chance on our Marketing team to switch from traditional paper vouchers to our Xplore Digital Voucher service.'
'We are already seeing the economical benefit for the town, and feedback suggests that the local shopping experience with the Xplore vouchers is very slick and user friendly. We are looking forward to the awards and our continued partnership with Xplore Local App developers.'
Tralee
Tralee are finalists in the Large Town (10,000+) category, alongside Sligo and Drogheda. We worked closely with Tralee Chamber Alliance to help them develop their digital town project. Chairperson of Tralee Chamber, Ken Tobin, had this to say:
'The integrated Xplore Tralee App and Web platform provide the town of Tralee with a critical piece of digital infrastructure to support the growth of business and community of the town. This platform will enable the visitors and general public to explore all that our area has to offer and supports us in our goal of keeping business local.'
'The Xplore team are integral partners to the future development of our digital eco-system in Tralee and we are excited to see where the platform develops in the years ahead.'
Portumna
Portumna has been shortlisted for the Digital Changemaker Award, which refers to 'a town that demonstrates that they have taken creative digital action to create change and new ways of doing things to effect positive impacts for the whole community.' Minister Anne Rabbitte had this to say:
"It was with great pleasure that I learned that my home town of Portumna has been shortlisted from some very impressive contenders around Ireland under the category of Digital Changemakers for the work of the Galway Wild Geese.
The Awards are an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of the town of Portumna, to help retain existing and attract new workers and residents to your town. A digitally advanced town can help attract investment from new employers from other areas nationally or internationally. It can also encourage additional investment from existing employers and support a start-up community. Thank you to Colin Hanley and the team at Xplore for partnering with our taskforce.'
Elodie Golden, Galway Wild Geese founding member added:
'Digital offers the opportunity to create new ways of doing things, promote innovation and breathe new life into local communities, making them more attractive places to live and work as well as contributing to a more sustainable future.
The Wild Geese have been working closely with Xplore Local, long before the pandemic, to onboard our towns and villages onto their exceptional platform, which aligns with the main goals of our community taskforce - digital transformation, remote work, climate action and enterprise development.'
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Hats off to all the towns that were shortlisted for this year's awards. As you may have already guessed, most of these digital campaigns and projects were led by groups of dedicated volunteers who are working to make their towns a better, more connected place to live.
Xplore works in tandem with many of these volunteers on a daily basis and we have witnessed first-hand the enthusiasm, care, and respect they have for their communities. Their embracing of digital town platforms and tools like Xplore is emblematic of their commitment to protect and stimulate the local economy.
We'd also like to give a special mention to Youghal who were shortlisted in the 'Large Town' category for a separate project.
