Longford project among national prize winners as Maria Edgeworth museum enters digital age

An Edgeworthstown based project has been recognised for its efforts and commitment to digital innovation at this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards.

.IE, the national registry for .ie domain names, announced the winning entries for the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 at a Gala event held at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone today.   

The Maria Edgeworth Centre in the Digital Age was runner-up in the Digital Tourism category, which celebrates projects that can demonstrate the use of technology to attract tourists and deliver distinctive experiences, winning a prize fund of €4,000. 

The Edgeworth family were respected educationalists, inventors, writers and supporters of social change who hosted famous visitors such as Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth amongst others.

A museum dedicated to Maria Edgeworth contains many interesting artefacts which have now been digitised with the help of the Bodleian Library & National Library of Ireland, as part of the digital strategy to bring the museum to a wider audience. 

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A new website was developed, social media accounts set up, interactive digital blackboards installed, a POS system developed and training in design software provided. The Maria Edgeworth museum enters the digital age! 

The awards were created by .IE in 2021, as part of a broader four-year €1 million investment in the .IE Digital Town Programme encouraging the uptake and use of internet and digital technologies for businesses, citizens and communities.

The awards recognise and reward digitally inspired projects run by towns and local community groups.  Each year the .IE Digital Town Awards offer a prize fund of €100,000 which is split across several categories.  

In total, 22 town and community digital projects were recognised at this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 – winners and runners-up across the seven main categories, three special category winners and one overall prize winner. 

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The .IE Digital Sustainability award was a new category introduced this year with Hollymount in Mayo announced as the winner with its Eco-Powered Cabinets which store life-saving equipment. 

This year’s category sponsors included Western Development Commission, Connected Hubs, and AIB Merchant Services with Vodafone as the overall presenting sponsor. 

Oonagh McCutcheon, National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme said ‘The quality of entries in this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards has been incredibly impressive.  Ireland’s towns and communities are identifying and solving connectivity challenges, driving digital innovation and developing creative digital solutions to enhance the lives of their fellow citizens.  This year 22 projects were recognised at the .IE Digital Town Awards Gala event, which add significantly to the lives of their local communities and improves our nation’s digital footprint.’ 

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Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond said “I want to congratulate all the winners of this year’s .IE Digital Town Awards. The 22 groups honoured at this year’s awards are great examples of how by embracing digitalisation, even small groups can make a big difference to their local communities, friends and neighbours. Congratulations again to all the winners, and thank you to every group that entered this year’s awards.”

Representing Vodafone, Sinéad Bryan, Managing Director, Vodafone Business said, “At Vodafone, our goal is to be a connectivity and technology partner to our customers the length and breadth of Ireland. We are delighted to support the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 which cements our commitment to powering inclusion through technology and enabling a better Ireland through use of digital.” 

More information on the .IE Digital Town Awards, entry guidelines for 2024 and FAQ’s can be found here 

Follow .IE on Twitter and at #DigitalTownAwards  

The .IE Digital Towns Awards is an initiative of .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names. Find out more at www.weare.ie