Judging for Pride of Place to get underway in Mayo

THE final stages of judging for the 2020 IPB Pride of Place competition in Mayo will take place between August 18 and 21.

Four groups in Mayo have been nominated for Pride of Place this year.

Pride of Place, in association with Co-Operation Ireland, is an all-island competition organised by Co-operation Ireland and local authorities. The purpose of the competition is to acknowledge the work being done every day by communities all over the island of Ireland.

Mayo County Council has selected four groups to nominate for Pride of Place 2020. The groups are:

Belcarra - Population Category 2 (300 – 1,000).

Westport Men’s Shed Men's Health and Wellbeing Programme - Community Wellbeing Initiative.

Ballina Lions Club - Population Category 5 (> 5,000).

Ballyhaunis Community Project, Celebrate Diversity - Creative Place Initiative.

For 2020, Pride of Place is going ahead in a different way. While judging is taking place in July/August, unfortunately, there will be no visit from the judges. Instead they will meet with participants and community representatives virtually from each area.

A comprehensive submission form has already been completed by the groups. This is followed by the Judges' Call online. The Judges' Call will consist of a questions and answers from the judges to the groups, giving the entrants a final opportunity to highlight the aspects of their community/initiative of which they are particularly proud and the reason why they deserve an IPB Pride of Place award.

Last year, Mayo had four national winners. Straide won the best overall award in Special Category, Ballinrobe were runners-up in Category 4 (2,000 to 5,000 population), Knock were runners up in Category 3 (1,000 to 2,000 population), and the Age Friendly Intergenerational Project were runners-up in the Age Friendly Initiative.

* Pictured, Straide, all-island winners in Pride of Place Special Category 2019.