The Kilkenny Famine Experience has been shortlisted for a National Lottery Good Causes Awards.
The local project which has brought the stories of local famine victims to life has been named amongst the thirty-six community groups, sports clubs and organisations from all over Ireland who were announced as finalists.
The accolades honour the inspiring work and achievements of thousands of projects, clubs and individuals from all over Ireland who, with the help of National Lottery Good Causes funding, have had an extraordinary impact on their local communities. Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games goes back to good causes all over the country.
The Kilkenny Famine Experience will contest in the Heritage category in the final, alongside Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter, Cork Folklore Project, Cork LGBT Archive, Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland in Meath and Irish Peatland Conservation Council in Kildare.
Marion Acreman was instrumental in setting up and developing the local project and has been telling KCLR News it’s “Great news, really excited at MacDonagh Junction to hear of the news, from hundreds of entries there are 36 shortlisted projects and each of the entrants received support from the National Lottery Good Causes”.
She adds “We received some funding from the Good Causes award back in 2017 when we launched the Kilkenny Famine Experience so we had submitted an application for the awards and just hearing that we made the shortlist means a lot to us because the work here around the stories of the Famine are ongoing, including hearing from people who have connections to our workhouse from across the world and also in terms of research, the research is ongoing with the anthropologist that worked on the human remains here so it’s great for everyone, it’s great for the people of Kilkenny as well to have a bit of positivity amongst all the challenges we’ve had in the past 12 months”.
Judging will take place virtually this year today (Tuesday 16) & tomorrow (Wednesday 17) with representatives from each of the finalist groups will be asked to do a short presentation remotely to the judging panel and respond to any questions that may arise. The judging panel will be chaired by Lotto presenter & weather presenter, Nuala Carey. Fergus Finlay, Columnist and Author, will join the panel as an independent judge at this stage.
Each national category winner will receive €10,000 while the overall Good Cause of the Year will get an additional €25,000 on top of this. The winners will be announced on Saturday 29th May at the Mansion House in Dublin (subject to Public health measures in place at the time). The event will alternatively take place virtually depending on the guidelines in effect.
The 36 National Lottery Good Causes Awards finalists in full:
Sport
- Shankill Tennis Club, Dublin
- South Dublin Taekwondo, Dublin
- Raphoe Community Sports Development, Donegal
- Kanturk Cycling Club, Cork
- Ratoath Athletics Club, Meath
- Ballintubber GAA, Mayo
Health & Wellbeing
- Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Dublin
- LauraLynn Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, Dublin
- Children in Hospital Ireland, Dublin
- Lough Ree Lanesborough Angling Hub, Roscommon
- Naas Community First Responders, Kildare
- East Galway & Midlands Cancer Support, Galway
Heritage
- Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter, Donegal
- Cork Folklore Project, Cork
- Cork LGBT Archive, Cork
- Kilkenny Famine Experience, Kilkenny
- Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland, Meath
- Irish Peatland Conservation Council, Kildare
Arts & Culture
- Children’s Books Ireland, Dublin
- International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, Dublin
- Dance Theatre of Ireland, Dublin
- Graffiti Theatre Company, Cork
- Cyclone Rep, Cork
- Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, Galway
Community
- Age Action Ireland, Dublin
- Immigrant Council of Ireland, Dublin
- Kilbarrack Coast Community Project, Dublin
- Irish Deaf Society, Dublin
- Daingean GAA, Offaly
- Headway Limerick, Limerick
Youth
- Focus Ireland, Dublin
- BeLonG To Youth Services, Dublin
- Millennium Family Resource Centre, Tipperary
- Autism Support Louth & Meath, Louth
- The Irish Pilgrimage Trust, Galway
- Blue Box Creative Learning Centre, Limerick
