The .IE Digital Town Awards took place yesterday with awards for 7 categories to address digital enhancement and adoption in Ireland.
The Awards promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. They also highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebrate the digital achievements of local towns, big and small.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on our country. 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 category of "Digital Local Hero" was described by the Awards as "someone in your community who is an unsung hero, who works tirelessly on initiatives to promote the digital enhancement of the town or a group in the town.".
In naming Digital HQ's project director, Eoin Costello, as the 2022 'Digital Local Hero' the judging panel had this to say about the reason for their choice:
The work of Eoin, and everyone at DigitalHQ, exemplifies the great potential of digital when combined with a can-do attitude, real-world skills, drive and enthusiasm in tackling the challenges faced by our town centres and the small businesses that keep them vibrant and positive places to work, live and visit.
Eoin is passionate about the benefits that digitalisation can bring to all stakeholders in our towns and works tirelessly to communicate these benefits in an accessible, action orientated way that motivates others to take action on the digital agenda both within our town and beyond. He leads by example and is out in all weathers taking photos of our local small business owners and encouraging them to go online.
Equally at the strategic level there is no one better than him at seeing the future benefits of digitalisation for localities.
