Three Northern Ireland towns among the finalists announced for Bank of Ireland’s Begin Together Awards 2020
9 September 2020
Dromore in Co Down, Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh and Newry City are among the finalists announced for Bank of Ireland’s Begin Together Awards 2020, a new Award scheme available for the first time in Northern Ireland. The awards recognise business and community groups who have come together to support their local area as they start to rebuild and recover from the impact of COVID-19.
A total awards prize fund of over £180,000 is available to finalists to help reboot local economies across the island of Ireland. 21 awards are involved with the overall winner receiving £45,000 and the title of Ireland’s ‘Most Enterprising Town’. There is also a prize of £18,000 for the winner of the ‘Rising Star’ award.
Reflecting the new challenges that communities and businesses currently face as a result of the pandemic three special COVID-response awards have been introduced:
- Local Town Promotion Initiative – A marketing or promotional campaign designed to help kick-start the local economy.
- Local Community Enterprise Initiative – A local enterprise initiative established specifically to ease the impact of COVID-19, or one that has repurposed itself during the pandemic.
- Local Business and Community Response Initiative – A joint initiative by local businesses and the community to manage the impact of COVID-19 through lockdown and beyond as towns start to reopen.
Dromore, Enniskillen and Newry will be competing with towns from across the island of Ireland. The judging panel will review all finalists this month and the winners will be announced in October. The initiative is being fast-tracked to provide funding to winning towns in October in order to directly assist their COVID-19 recovery.
Commenting on the finalist announcement, Gavin Kennedy, Head of Business Banking (NI), Bank of Ireland UK, said:
“The high quality and number of entries received truly reflects the resilience and enterprising spirit of towns across Northern Ireland and made it an unenviable task for the judges. Congratulations to Dromore, Enniskillen and Newry on becoming finalists in this year’s Bank of Ireland Begin Together Awards. These awards are all about supporting businesses and communities across the island of Ireland impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as they start to rebuild and get back on their feet. We have seen the incredible impact and achievements that can be accomplished when communities, business groups and local authorities come together with a common purpose to meet and overcome the challenges they face. I would like to wish Dromore, Enniskillen and Newry the very best of luck in the competition.”
The Begin Together Awards fund is part of a wider £910k Bank of Ireland support for local enterprise and community groups this year.
Notes to the Editor
Bank of Ireland Begin Together initiative
Following the donation of £910k in emergency funding to communities impacted by COVID-19 in March, Bank of Ireland will be injecting an additional £910k to local communities and a range of organisations over the coming months. This will be disbursed primarily through the Bank of Ireland Begin Together programme, which has several initiatives including:
- the Begin Together Awards to support local enterprise in towns across the island of Ireland;
- the Begin Together Fund supporting local community groups and charities, which is managed through the Community Foundation for Ireland;
- and the Begin Together Fund for Colleagues which will further support those local not-for-profit organisations which our Bank of Ireland colleagues are personally involved with.
Begin Together Awards – Prize Categories
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Population categories
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Special category awards
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City Award |
Winner £9,000 (Runner Up £4,500) |
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Rising Star |
Winner £18,000 (Runner Up £4,500) |
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Overall winner |
£36,000 plus £9,000 as winner of population or city category. |