The Housing Executive’s Rural Community Awards

 The Housing Executive is delighted to invite entries to this year's Rural Community Awards. This year it has launched the ‘Sustainable Village of the Year’ award, which will be the overall winner of the two existing award categories: the Cleaner and Greener Award and the Community Spirit Award.

The aim of this new award is to acknowledge and celebrate the vital contributions made by a community who has gone ‘above and beyond’ to help make their village a better place to live through developing and engaging residents in activities to encourage environmental, social and economic sustainability.

The awards are open to all rural neighbourhoods however they are particularly interested in activities which are inclusive and benefit tenants of Housing Executive estates.

There are three awards available:
• The Cleaner and Greener Award
• The Community Spirit Award
• Sustainable Village of the Year

Within each category there are two prizes:
• Village population less than 1,000
• Village population of 1,000 - 5,000

The Rural Community Awards help improve community spirit within rural neighbourhoods. There is a total prize fund of £6,000 on offer, with six prizes of £1,000 being awarded to help and support those communities working to improve their respective areas.

Further information and an application form are available from the Housing Executive website:
www.nihe.gov.uk/news-rural-community-awards
or by contacting Eoin McKinney at
Email: rural.housing@nihe.gov.uk
Tel: 028 9598 2502

Applications must be returned to the Housing Executive Rural Unit by Friday 14 July 2017 at 4pm.