Local News | From Clonakilty

Ardfield and Rathbarry are celebrating a special win at the Zurich Lama Awards in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel last Saturday night, with The ARC coming away with the title for Best Use of External Communications.

The award, sponsored by Power Media, was accepted by ARC editor Hugh O’Reilly alongside Cork County Councillor John O’Sullivan, who nominated the newsletter for the prize toward the end of last summer.

The win, which came completely unexpected, was the second award of the night for the Clonakilty table with Hillback Developments having claimed the Best Developer/Promoter award earlier in the ceremony.

The ARC faced extremely proficient opposition in its category, but left Carlow National Promotion Page, Dun Laoghaire Harbour Website, Mayo County Council Website and South Dublin Libraries empty-handed at the end of the night.

The awards, now in their fourth year, were superbly presented by the elegant RTE Prime Time host Miriam O’Callaghan and each finalist, prior to the announcement of the winners, were presented with a certificate to mark their achievement of having got to the final stage of the competition.

The Black Tie ceremony itself was professionally orchestrated by Ashville Media and a press photographer was on hand to record the presentations for posterity

City Channel will also televise the award ceremony later in the month.

Celebrations by the Clonakilty contingent went well into the night with the parties joined later in the evening by Ardfield residents Dan O’Connor and Audrey Harris, who were on a short break to the country’s capital and came across to see how their weekly newsletter had faired in the proceedings.

On arrival back to the community with the award last Monday night, Hugh O’Reilly was welcomed by friends and neighbours as well as representatives from the various voluntary groups that had pooled their resources to cover the cost of the excessive ticket prices and ensure that The ARC was represented at the function.

Speaking at Ardfield’s O’Mahony’s Mountain House Hugh O’Reilly dedicated the win to Tony McCarthy and John Wall, curates in his home parish of Rialto, Dublin, who encouraged him in his first venture into community work and newsletter activities respectively. He remembered also his very close friend and assistant in newsletter production in Rialto for nine years, Robert Charlton (RIP) whose twenty-first anniversary occurred on the eve of the award win.

Hugh O’Reilly also dedicated the unexpected and ecstatic win to the community of Ardfield and Rathbarry, saying that he just provides the service of the weekly newsletter and that without the contributions from those groups and individuals and the publication sponsorships received, The ARC would never have succeeded as it has.

‘This award belongs to the community.’ he said, and so, this weekend, will hand the beautiful prize over to Ellen O’Mahony for display and safe keeping at The Mountain House.

Submitted by Hugh O'Reilly on Thursday, February 4th, 2010