Welcome to the
LAMA All-Ireland Community
& Council Awards

Best Irish Festival

Open to any festival or event staged in a local community or county. The Best Irish Festival of the Year award recognises the huge effort made by both residents and organisers to make an event happen and the sense of community such an endeavour creates. The winning festival/event will also have boosted tourism and attracted business to the area, thereby raising the community’s profile and cementing the area’s commitment to building a healthy and whole neighbourhood.

Best Inclusive Community Wellbeing Initiative Award sponsored by Re-turn

This category recognises community-based initiatives which were put in place to develop and deliver services within communities to meet local needs. These may range from justice to child care initiatives, to cultural or environmental projects. They must have impacted upon the community or improved lives of those in the surrounding area.

Sponsored by Re-turn

Community Volunteer of the Year

This category is for those who go above and beyond for their community and create a positive impact in their community. They also inspire and motivate others.

Best Community Transport Initiative

This category celebrates outstanding community transport initiatives. Introduce us to your project, how the work was innovative, a new idea or an existing concept delivered in a new or creative way.

Best Green Sustainable Initiative

This category recognises initiatives which were put in place to achieve green and sustainable objectives. They must have impacted upon the community or improved lives of those in the surrounding area in terms of sustainable development, the economy and the environment.

Sponsored by Electric Ireland Superhomes

Best Business working with the Community

This category aims to find the best Irish business working in the community who has recognised a wider responsibility to their people and the communities in which they work. This can be by helping communities by having a positive impact on the people and community around them and working with integrity and responsibility. The business may be involved in charitable and community activities by for example supporting a local club through sponsorship or raising money for a local charity group.

Sponsored by An Post

Best Enterprise & Start-up Hub

This award recognises a Start-Up that has embraced entrepreneurial talent and skills, as well as working with the local resources provided by service within your county.

Best Community-Scale Enhancements

Celebrating small-to-medium infrastructure projects that enrich everyday life—like upgraded playgrounds, greenways, local heritage restorations, or improved public amenities. These initiatives should reflect community needs, foster inclusion, and enhance wellbeing. Judges will look for creative use of resources, strong local partnerships, and visible impact on quality of life.

Tionscnamh Gaeilge is Fearr  |  Best Irish Language Initiative

Bronntar an gradam seo mar aitheantas ar an gcaighdeán eisceachtúil agus ar an sármhaitheas a léirítear i dtioncnaimh Ghaeilge sa phobal nó sa chontae. (This award recognises due credit to the exceptional calibre and outstanding quality of Irish Language initiatives in the community or county.)

Best Inclusive Public Realm & Accessibility Project

This category celebrates infrastructure that prioritises universal access, dignity, and social inclusion. Eligible projects include accessible streetscapes, sensory gardens, inclusive sports facilities, or disability-friendly transport upgrades. Entries must demonstrate co-design with diverse communities and a commitment to removing barriers in the built environment.

Best Housing Regeneration & Urban Planning

This category acknowledges excellence within social housing projects which have been developed in the last three years enabling stability and sustainability within communities. Projects will have provided homes for traditional families, lone-parent families, the elderly, homeless and disabled people.

Best Transformative Capital Projects

This category honours large-scale infrastructure initiatives that redefine local landscapes—such as civic hubs, transport interchanges, or regional regeneration schemes. Projects should demonstrate strategic vision, long-term sustainability, and measurable community benefit. Entries must showcase excellence in planning, stakeholder engagement, and delivery, with emphasis on innovation, accessibility, and environmental stewardship.

Sponsored by TII

Reimagining Public Places Award

This award celebrates local authority initiatives that enhance town and village centres through sustainable, inclusive, and design-led approaches. Rooted in the values of the New European Bauhaus and Town Centre First policy, these projects reimagine places to improve quality of life, strengthen community identity, and promote climate resilience.

Eligible projects may include reimagined public spaces, adaptive reuse of existing buildings, integrated green and transport infrastructure, or cultural and civic initiatives that support vibrant, people-centred places.

Sponsored by Southern Regional Assembly, Northern & Western Regional Assembly and Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly

Excellence in Sustainable Major Infrastructure Delivery

This category honours large-scale infrastructure initiatives that redefine local landscapes—such as civic hubs, transport interchanges, or regional regeneration schemes. Projects should demonstrate strategic vision, long-term sustainability, and measurable community benefit. Entries must showcase excellence in planning, stakeholder engagement, and delivery, with emphasis on innovation, accessibility, and environmental stewardship.

Sponsored by Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Local Authority Energy Decarbonisation Award

This award focuses on the Local Authority’s own energy usage as distinct from activities that are happening in their jurisdiction. It is a very prestigious new category that is just 3 years old.

Sponsored by BDO

Best Use of Technology & Innovation in Local Government

This award recognises excellence in the use of technology and innovation to improve operational efficiency, enhance public service delivery, and create lasting benefits for local authorities and the communities they serve. It celebrates the teams and organisations driving positive change through forward-thinking solutions, helping to make local government more responsive, effective, and future-focused. Particular recognition will be given to initiatives that demonstrate innovation, measurable impact, and a commitment to delivering long-term public value.

Sponsored by Submit.com

Best Digital Transformation Initiative

This category recognises excellence in the use of digital technologies and new ways of working to transform how a local authority delivers services or operates. The award celebrates initiatives that have redesigned an existing service, process or way of working through digital and ICT. The focus is on demonstrable transformation and tangible impact for the public, staff or the local authority, rather than on the technology alone. To distinguish this category from service-specific awards, entries should clearly demonstrate that digital transformation was central to the initiative and to the outcomes achieved.

Sponsored by the Local Government Management Agency

Best Sustainable Infrastructure & Climate Action

This category recognises infrastructure projects—large or small—that advance environmental goals. Eligible entries include renewable energy installations, flood mitigation systems, green building retrofits, or biodiversity corridors. Projects must demonstrate climate resilience, carbon reduction, and alignment with national sustainability targets, while engaging communities in environmental stewardship.

Best Social Enterprise of the Year
sponsored by Rethink Ireland

(Not open for public entry)

Social enterprises are organisations whose mission is to have a positive effect on society. They generate revenue through their products or services and reinvest their profits back into their social mission. Social enterprises develop solutions to Ireland’s most pressing social issues by creating jobs, tackling disadvantage and supporting community development.

In January 2018, Social Innovation Fund of Ireland launched the Social Enterprise Development Fund to find and back the best social enterprises in Ireland. The fund is run in partnership with Local Authorities Ireland, with the support IPB insurance and the Department of Rural and Community Development from the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Sponsored by Rethink Ireland

Best Tourism Initiative
sponsored by Fáilte Ireland

Specifically aimed at rewarding an initiative which directly increases visitor numbers to an area or to Ireland overall, this category will recognise an initiative or project that has helped improve the way we care for our visitors. The impact this initiative has had or is having on visitor numbers and on communities will be taken into consideration, as will the effect it is having on businesses, both new and existing.

Sponsored by Fáilte Ireland

Best CSR Project in a Community

A CSR community programme should represent a sustained effort by a business to strengthen its links within its local community and to have a positive impact on the area. The programme should respond to a specific need in the community and should focus on the measures taken by a business to engage with the community and all relevant stakeholders involved.

Best Communications Initiative  |  Excellence in Local Government Communications

This category recognises excellence in communications by a local authority. It celebrates strategic, audience-focused communications that improve understanding of local authority services, support public / staff engagement or participation, or contribute to better outcomes for the audience.

Sponsored by the Local Government Management Agency

Community Wellbeing Initiative

This category recognises and celebrates organisations/individuals that have developed activities, facilities, policies and strategies that encourage an active and healthy community, as well as promoting mental, physical or emotional health.

Sponsored by Healthy Ireland

National Impact Award
sponsored by IPB Insurance

This category recognises a project which has had a positive effect upon the nation as a whole, enhancing the environment, cultural or social activities, transport links or the economic stability or growth of the local and national communities who use it.

Sponsored by IPB Insurance

Council of the year
sponsored by IPB Insurance

Council of the Year recognises a local council which has gone above and beyond for the people of the community. It must have developed and be continuing to develop a range of innovative projects and initiatives which improve and enhance the social, environmental, cultural and economic aspects of community lives. This category is not open for entry; instead County Councils with the highest number of finalists over all the categories will be invited to submit a 600 word entry outlining the criteria below.

Sponsored by IPB Insurance

Grand Prix
sponsored by IPB Insurance

(Not open for public entry)
Sponsored by IPB Insurance, the Grand Prix Award is a special commendation for outstanding excellence. This prestigious award goes to the project/initiative that received the highest average mark from our esteemed judging panel.

Sponsored by IPB Insurance