The Heritage Council has announced details of this year’s National Heritage Week Awards, inviting nominations from event organisers across Dublin.
This year following the full return of in-person events, digital project and in-person event organisers must put themselves forward for consideration for an award. Nominations for the National Heritage Awards will be open on Saturday, 13th August and close on Monday, 5th September at 5pm. A nomination form will be available on www.heritageweek.ie.
National Heritage Week runs from Saturday, 13th – Sunday, 21st August and this year’s theme is sustainable heritage and biodiversity. The National Heritage Awards will be a hybrid event, taking place in October.
Speaking at the announcement, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD said: “National Heritage Week is an opportunity to showcase Ireland’s wonderful heritage, while the National Heritage Week Awards offer a chance to celebrate those who work to ensure its preservation and protection. I wish all organisers the very best as they finalise their plans for National Heritage Week and look forward to an exciting National Heritage Week.”
This year, there will be six award categories, together with the County Awards. Reflecting the theme of National Heritage Week, this year, projects will be considered on the basis of their fulfilment of the criteria established for this year’s initiative, with a particular emphasis on sustainable heritage and biodiversity.
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan added: “I am pleased to see the Heritage Council update the award categories for the National Heritage Week Awards, reflecting this year’s theme of sustainable heritage and biodiversity. I hope that this will encourage a meaningful response among organisers, who have an opportunity, through their digital projects and in-person events, to emphasise the importance of sustainability in all our dealings with our national heritage – be that natural, built, or cultural, to ensure its survival.”
This year’s National Heritage Week Awards will comprise the county awards, as well as a number of special categories, namely:
· National Heritage Hero Award: Awarded to an individual or organisation that has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to the protection and promotion of heritage.
· Sustainable Heritage Award: Awarded to the event or project that best demonstrated a reconnection with the skills and traditions of the past and how these can be applied to the future or passed to the next generation, or the event or project that best considered how we can conserve our rich built, cultural and natural heritage.
· Biodiversity Award: Awarded to the event or project that successfully encouraged a greater appreciation of our natural world or a consideration of the variety of plant and animal life in the area.
· Wild Child Award: Awarded to an event or project that successfully encouraged children and families to get outdoors and enjoy and explore the heritage and biodiversity in their locality.
· Water Heritage Award: Awarded to an event or project that best explored how a canal, river, lake or sea shaped the heritage of a locality or celebrates water as an integral part of our natural heritage, as well as being a vital part of our future.
· Sustainable and Inclusive Event Award: Awarded to an event that successfully incorporates environmentally friendly practices to reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the natural world and that made a special effort to share heritage with everyone in the community.
· County Award: Awarded to the best event or project in each Local Authority area based its ability to: maximise the involvement of a community in developing the project; include all age groups in your community in the project development; grow awareness of heritage in a community; or build on an existing heritage project.
More information on the National Heritage Awards 2022 is available at www.heritageweek.ie/about/heritage-awards.
PHOTO: Mark Stedman
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