Last chance to nominate your community and sport stars

Nominations will close this Friday for The Anglo-Celt Community & Sports Awards 2025 in partnership with Mannok and Kingspan.

The awards seek to celebrate community spirit and sporting excellence among individuals, clubs and groups across the county.

Categories across the community side of the awards include: Volunteer of the Year, Green Project of the Year, Carer of the Year and Community Group of the Year. An overall Community Champion will also be named from the category winners at the award ceremony, which will take place in the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Thursday, May 22, at 4pm.

In the sports arena, the relevant categories for nomination are Young Sports Star of the Year, Outstanding Achievement Award or Team of the Year. A special Hall of Fame Award will also be presented to a worthy recipient, as selected by a panel of judges. Again, an overall Sports Person of the Year will be named at the event.

The awards are being sponsored by the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Kyte Powertech, CICS Silo Clean, Joe Rowley Windows & Doors, Dovida and Sherry Fitzgerald Declan Woods.

Managing Editor of the Celt Linda O’Reilly is urging people to nominate that one person or club who goes above and beyond to make their community a better place to live; or perhaps a family carer who deserves recognition for the work they do.

“We all know that person who always seems be in the thick of it - if there’s jerseys to be washed, tickets to be sold, a job to be done, they are the first with their hand up and always have a smile on their face. They are the ‘go-to’ person in their communities. We want to hear about them and this is your last chance to recognise what they do,” said Ms O’Reilly.

“Sports stars and teams too can bring so much pride and joy to their clubs and communities and so much effort and dedication goes into preparing individuals and teams for competitions. We want to hear about those too. Of course we are aware of many, as we report on their successes, but we want to hear who you think deserves to be honoured,” she added. The nomination process takes less than two minutes to complete (see advert on page 66).

Last year’s overall winners were Carol Beattie from the Cavan branch of the Alzheimers Society who was named Community Champion and also Carer of the Year and Arva captain, Ciaran Brady, Sports Person of the Year.

“But there are plenty others like them who have done so much over the past year - whether that’s voluntary work, contributing to their club or group, reaching new heights in the sporting arena, or improving the environment around them. These awards seek to honour those people,” said Ms O’Reilly. The deadline is noon on Friday, May 2. Four finalists in each category will be shortlisted and profiled in the Celt, and online, the week of the awards.

Don’t miss your chance to sing the praises of the unsung heroes in your community and let them know how much they are appreciated, nominate here.