Sixteen Finalists Compete for 2010 Calor Village of the Year®

russjlever
24 August 2010 - 3:49pm
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Sixteen villages across Northern Ireland will go head to head in the final of the prestigious 2010 Calor Village of the Year® Competition, it was announced today.

This year’s competition offers two main awards. Nine villages – Ballintoy, Seapatrick, Cushendall, Castledawson, Toome, Portaferry, Broughshane, Kesh and Dromore – compete for the overall 2010 Calor Village of the Year® award and a cash prize of £5,000.

Seven other villages – Killeter, Dundrod, Massford/Finnis, Cloney, Kilskeery, Cloughmills and Dromboughil – will contest the Calor Rural Community Award, which recognises the contribution made by communities with a population of less than 1,000.

The competition, which is run in conjunction with the Rural Development Council (RDC), celebrates vibrant, enterprising and caring rural communities and the vital role they play in life in Northern Ireland.

It is open to all rural communities with a population of less than 4,500 and marks are awarded in five categories – building community life, business, young people, environment and older people.

Each category winner and the Rural Award winner receive £1,000 with an additional £5,000 on offer to the village which wins the overall 2010 Calor Village of the Year® award.

A team of judges will visit each village over the next few weeks to meet with local representatives, who will have the opportunity to present their village and demonstrate why they feel they should win.

Mark McClements, Regional Sales Manager, Calor Gas, said: “The high quality of entries for this year’s Calor Village of the Year® competition once again demonstrates the commitment and enthusiasm of local people to showcase all that is good about their village.

“Each village has reflected real community spirit and an undoubted pride in their village and I would like to wish them the best of luck throughout the judging process.”  

Martin McDonald, Chief Executive, Rural Development Council, said: “Over the next few weeks we are really looking forward to visiting each village contesting this years competition, meeting all the people involved and seeing first hand the successful projects they have implemented to bring their local communities together.”

The winner of the 2010 Calor Village of the Year® title and the Calor Rural Community Award will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony in October.

For more information on the 2010 Calor Village of the Year® competition visit www.calorvillageoftheyear.org/northern-ireland or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CalorVillageoftheYear.