Wednesday, 27 April 2022
This month saw the annual #LoveDonegal Day scooping the gold medal for the Attracting Inward Investment Award at the All Ireland Community & Council Awards 2021.
Organized by the Local Authority Members Association (LAMA) the awards ceremony took place in the Crowne Plaza, Dublin Airport on Saturday 9th April. Members of the Economic Development and Tourism unit at Donegal County Council attended the awards along with Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, Jack Murray.
The ceremony also saw other Donegal winners including Spraoi agus Sport winning gold in the Disability Access & Inclusion Initiative for their Alternative Respite Programme, Project Cineál collecting silver for the Best Community Based Initiative and CHEF Aid Letterkenny finishing runner up in Community Volunteer of the year.
The 2021 edition of #LoveDonegal day achieved a phenomenal response on social media reaching over 16 million social accounts, across all corners of the globe. Despite being a one-day event, #LoveDonegal and #DúnnanGallAbú also trended for two days, with 15,000 posts on social media receiving 269,000 interactions on all platforms. Donegal.ie also saw a 177% increase in traffic over a 24 period.
#LoveDonegal day 2021 provided an opportunity for young and old across the globe, to showcase online pictures, videos, posts and stories of people sharing their wonderful memories and connections to our county and why they #LoveDonegal. Organizers of the campaign wanted the day to showcase themes including:
Visiting, travelling and exploring the county, The people, Landscape coastline islands and landmarks, Music the arts, sport marine culture and food, Donegal Businesses, Working and remote workers in the county and The Gaeltacht region and the Irish language
The success of #LoveDonegal day was lead by the Donegal pubic and diaspora who engaged with the campaign and shared their stories, memories and pictures with each other.
The award comes after #BuyDonegal last year won the excellence in local government award for promoting economic development at the 2021 Chambers Ireland award.
Check out just some of the posts from last year’s campaign below. Congratulations to all nominations and winners from all the Donegal team!
Credit to the LAMA Awards for the images.
Tip: Zoom into 300% to read all of the posts
