Photo credits: Joleen Cronin
We’re delighted to be sponsoring the MBC Financial Rebel Spirit Awards which recognises Cork businesses and people that helped lift the spirits of those in the ‘Rebel County’ during the eighteen months of lockdown. The awards were created to pay tribute these artists, musicians, companies, community activists, public service members, etc.
Nominations are now open, and members of the public can nominate people and businesses that they think deserve recognition. All nominees are considered by a panel of judges. When speaking about the awards, MBC Finacial’s Alan McCarthy said “We wanted to highlight some heroic work done by Cork people and companies during the lockdown. We still hear of so many warm stories about people that did fabulous things for others, and we thought an event could be created to bring them together and to celebrate them.”
Likewise, Sarah from MBC Financial added “There were quiet heroes all around us doing work to help others out, people who did it because they felt it was the right thing to do, and never sought any attention for what they did. We want to hear about them and let others know what they did.”
Her examples of these “quiet heroes” were:
- “The people who had to stay at home who made scrubs, who knitted blankets, made masks, baked, and made meals for others
- Residents’ associations/groups and sports clubs who swung into action to provide services/care
- Those that contacted their neighbours offering to do tasks/jobs for them like shopping, collections etc.”
The awards ceremony is a ticketed event and will take place in the Metropole Hotel in January 2022. Cork actor and writer Tadhg Hickey will MC the event. It will be run by Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications who runs other awards shows around social media and the web.
The 12 categories are:
Local Business – Community spirit
Local businesses that showed community spirit, such as businesses that looked after their staff or their local community.
Local Business – Pivoting
Small businesses that changed gears during lockdown to help the Cork community.
Arts and Culture
Arts and culture organisations and individuals that kept people entertained during lockdown, such as art galleries, musicians, and DJs.
Fundraising
Innovative or impressive fundraising by Cork NGOs.
Public Service
Public service organisations or individuals doing amazing things, such as An Garda Síochána or the fire services in Cork.
Voluntary Organisations
Voluntary organisations that helped the people of Cork during lockdown.
Communicators
People that created and shared factual information over the 18 months.
Educators
Teachers (of both primary and secondary schools), those creating new curricula, did Zoom classes, and kept the children engaged.
Content Creators
Those that created music, entertaining websites, and fun videos.
Rebel Thinking
People or businesses that came up with interesting or unique ideas in the past 18 months, including a product, a service, or an initiative.
A Nod Beyond Cork (Sponsored by Blacknight)
Recognising people and organisations beyond Cork who did amazing things and that made an impact.
Go to RebelSpirit.ie for tickets and more information.
About the Author: Aoife Wright
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