Community is at the heart of everything we do

The Anglo Celt Community & Sports Awards, in partnership with Mannok, will get underway at about 3:30pm this afternoon in the Cavan Crystal Hotel with 30 finalists across a range of categories (see below). An overall Community Champion and Sports Star of the Year will also be named.

The Anglo-Celt has been your community newspaper since 1846 - providing coverage of news, events and sports from County Cavan and the surrounding areas.

We seek to inform and entertain our readers on the news and events that matter most to them and affect their daily lives. That could be the report from the championship game, results from the agricultural show, photog raphs from the debs or an update on the latest schedule of roadworks. They don’t all have to be award-winning stories but rather a reflection of life as it is lived in our beautiful rural county, cradle to the grave type stuff, a chronicle of life in our community.

Our team takes pride in quality journalism - balanced and fair by experienced and qualified reporters - from a source you can trust.

There have been many changes over our almost 200 year history - the internet, social media and video all play an increasing role in how people access their news and information. We have embraced them all, and continue to learn and grow. But our core focus remains community whether that’s in traditional print or on our Facebook page.

Previously (pre-Covid) and separately we operated People of the Year Awards and Sports Awards.

But, given the amateur nature of most of our games and sporting codes and the voluntary ethos that is the backbone of many sporting clubs the length and breadth of the county, it made perfect sense for us to marry these two events. Whether it’s the local men’s shed, the Comhaltas group, the variety group, the development association or the local GAA club, community is at the heart of it all. These people all work together to make their communities better places - whether that’s washing jerseys for the under 8s, managing the rota for the community hall, making tea, or turning the lights off.

Our sporting stars too - they are dedicated to their sports, work hard, train hard, wear their club and county colours with pride and their successes bring so much joy to their clubs, families and communities. They are role models too for our youth.

All of these efforts and achievements - however big or small - deserve recognition. Without these people, the very fabric of our communities would unravel.

Special thanks

I would like to thank also our partners in these awards - Mannok

Thanks also to our sponsors:

Cavan Crystal Hotel

Home Instead

Joe Rowley Windows & Doors

Kore

Kyte

M-Tec and

Sherry FitzGerald Declan Woods

Without their support, the staging of this event would not be possible.

These businesses are also rooted in their communities - providing local employment and supporting a wide variety of local clubs and causes from sponsoring jerseys to donating raffle prizes and even hosting charity events themselves.

Congratulations to all our finalists this evening. Your communities are much better places for having you in them. Please keep up the great work and no doubt your endeavours will provide the team at the Celt with many more column inches in our newspapers and posts on our websites in the months and years to come.

Stay tuned to our website and social media channels this afternoon to see the overall winners in each category.

And this year's finalists are...

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

- Fiona Corby

- Leanne Coyle

- Declan Smith

- Ciaran Weir

GREEN PROJECT OF THE YEAR

- Friends of Castle Lake Catchment

- The Little Redo Project

- The Local Green Box

- The Mullagh Biodiversity Walkway

CARER OF THE YEAR

- Carole Beattie

- Mary Byrne

- Brid Dolan

- Sinead Hoey

COMMUNITY GROUP OF THE YEAR

- Belturbet Men's Shed

- Relaghbeg Fundraising Committee

- Swanlinbar Development Association

- Tullyvin Musical Society

YOUNG SPORTS STAR OF THE YEAR

- Renee Crotty

- Casey Fitzgerald

- Cian McCabe

- Emma Tolan

- Thomas Williams

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

- Cavan Hurlers

- Mervyn Kinkade

- Loreto Ladies

- Virginia RFC

TEAM OF THE YEAR

- Arva GAA

- U16 Cavan Ladies

- Men's Cavan RFC

- Virginia U19 basketball

HALL OF FAME RECIPIENT

- Stephen King