Welcome back to Kerry’s awards

THEY’RE back – bigger and brighter – but the focus remains the same... the community and the many, many volunteers and community employees who work diligently behind the scenes across Kerry.

Kerry Community Awards date back to 2004 when Rathmore Social Action Group took the inaugural title. Since then there have been 11 deserving winners, with Féile na Bealtaine the most recent winner, having collected the overall title in 2014.

The awards then took a break but this year they return even stronger and the showcase awards evening also returns to welcoming hosts, The Dromhall Hotel in Killarney, on Wednesday, May 10.

This year there were many high quality applications from across the county and judges had the extremely difficult task of creating a shortlist of 20 entries, with each invited to the awards evening.

From this list, 10 awards will be handed out on the night, including an overall winner who will join an elite group of previous recipients.

While the selection process this year has changed somewhat from previous editions, Kerry Community Awards continue to reward and encourage community efforts to improve our social, economic, cultural and environmental quality of life.

In this 12 page pull-out, The Kerryman presents the 20 groups who have been shortlisted for the awards evening. As a founding member alongside Kerry County Council and Southern Marketing Design Media, all at our newspaper are proud to be associated with the community awards. Thanks to all sponsors for their continued support and good luck to all on the night. Kevin Hughes, Editor, The Kerryman