Louth groups urged to enter Supervalu Tidy Towns Water and Communities Special Award

The Waters and Communities Special Award is now open for 2023 via their online portal made accessible through the home website of the Local Authority Waters Programme – lawaters.ie.

The closing date is Friday, 9 June 2023. This special award has been a regular feature in the main SuperValu TidyTowns competition since 2017.

Applicants can avail of the opportunity to highlight how they promoted a local stream, river, estuary, canal, lake, or beach and what winning this award would mean to their local community.

In previous years, the range of community initiatives along local waterbodies has been impressive, a spokesperson said.

Examples include, enhancement of public amenities, litter picks, conservation of biodiversity and heritage, citizen science, promotion of angling and water-based activities, education and awareness raising, promotion of local actions in support of water, biodiversity, and climate action goals.

This year, applications which demonstrate innovations in Nature Based Solutions to address local problems are particularly encouraged.

A panel of judges appointed by the three partners, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Waterways Ireland, and the Local Authority Waters Programme, will assess each application under the following headings:

Awareness raising (15 Marks)
Community involvement (20 Marks)
Stakeholder engagement (15 Marks)
Project benefits (40 Marks)
Highlights to share (10 Marks)
The Waters and Communities Special Award is open to all community groups.

The three partners are committed to the success of this award and provide an annual prize fund of €7,000, which is divided across the four regions for the TidyTowns competition.

The overall award winner receives €2,000 to support their local project or initiative.

To apply and to read about other special awards see the TidyTowns website: www.tidytowns.ie