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Rural Community Awards

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We have launched our latest Rural Community Awards competition

The Housing Executive is delighted to launch our latest Rural Community Awards competition, which recognises the work of rural groups during 2024. 

We want to continue to celebrate the work of volunteers across NI who are quite often the ‘unsung heroes’ within our communities, going above and beyond to promote health and well-being, individual and community development, social inclusion and to help make life better for all residents

The following awards are available this year.

Rural Community Spirit
The aim of this award is to focus on and reward those community groups who work together to make their village or small settlement a better place to live.

Consideration will be given to any aspect of community work which has been undertaken to improve the quality of life of residents, with particular emphasis on facilities, services and activities which have been made available for specific groups within the community.

Community Champion
Our Community Champion award is open to extraordinary individuals nominated by the rural community group they represent. This person may regularly sacrifice free time to help others with no requirement for recompense or appreciation.

We see a community champion as someone who shares their time, skills and knowledge of a local community, to become a driving force to sustain and improve the community as a whole. 

Cleaner & Greener
The Cleaner & Greener Rural Community award seeks to reward and encourage those rural communities who have come together to protect and enhance their built and natural environment and to promote sustainability with their residents.

This year the NI Housing Council are sponsoring the Cleaner & Greener Award.

Download the application form (PDF 210 kB)

View our "tips and advice" for help to complete the application form.

Prize money
There will be a £1,000 prize for the winners of the northern and southern Community Spirit and Cleaner and Greener awards, and £500 will be donated to the community groups nominating the highly commended winning applicants.

Plaques will be presented to individual(s) who have been deemed to be community champions.

Prize money should be used to support and extend activities/projects which benefit the rural community. We will promote the competition throughout the year on our website and through relevant rural publications but community groups should also involve the Housing Executive in any publicity they carry out locally.

Watch our video featuring previous Community Champion Award winner, Margaret Reid.










Watch all our videos of the 2023 Rural Community Awards winners

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Rural Matters