Awards

Ireland wins EU award for Environmental Awareness programme

Notice Nature Team with the Best Practice Award

Ireland has won an EU award for best practice in communicating environmental issues. “Notice Nature”, was voted the winner by environmental communications specialists from the 27 EU member states. The winner was announced at a ceremony in the Hague.on Friday evening, 19 October. The award was presented by the Dutch Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Jacqueline Cramer, to officials from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Mr. John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government welcomed the news today (23 October 07). “It is a great honour for Ireland to be recognised in this way. The issue of biodiversity and the importance of protecting it is a complex subject to communicate. The approach we have taken in this campaign and the emphasis we have placed on stakeholder engagement has been well received by our EU colleagues. This award is a tribute to all those involved in the campaign, including environmental and community groups, local authorities, the construction, tourism, agriculture and business sectors, and members of the public who have engaged with us in Notice Nature.”

Initiatives taken under the Notice Nature Campaign have included the development of good practice guidelines for the tourism, construction and business sectors, the organization of Ireland’s first biodiversity week in May, seminars and conferences around the country, photographic competition in association with TV3 and the inclusion of a new biodiversity prize in the Tidy Towns competition.

The Best Practice Awards are organised by The Green Spider Network (GSN), which is an active network of communication and information officers from environment ministries and national environmental agencies in Europe. The network was established in 1995 and is supported by DG Environment of the European Commission.

The GBDA IDEA Gold Award for most effective website 2007

‘‘Notice Nature’’, Ireland’s first national public awareness campaign for Biodiversy, received the first prize, or ‘Gold’ award for Best Website Design at the 13th annual Graphic Design Business Association (GDBA) Design Effectiveness Awards (IDEA), held in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham last Friday, 9th November.

The Notice Nature website was designed by Loman Cusack Design.

The GDBA Awards aim to promote the Irish graphic design consultancy sector and reward those companies who communicate and engage through effective graphic design in the corporate, private and public sectors. Second prize in the same category was won by Dara Creative for Crean Mosaics. The 2007 Awards comprised of seven different catetgories; Branding and Identity, Packaging, Literature, Public Service Non/Profit Literature, 3D Design Projects – Point of Sale and Exhibition, Web Design, New Media and Student.

On the judging panel this year were Toby Scott, Centre for Design Innovation, Loretta Lambkin, Dublin Dockland Development Authority, Seamus Bagnell, Editor Irish Marketing Journal, Valerie Robinson, The National Development Plan Office, Nick Mulcahy, Editor Business Plus, David Martin, Gibney Communications and Gina Quinn, CEO Dublin Chamber of Commerce.