Caroline Davy, St Colman’s Community College in Midleton and paddle boarding and litter picking group Subowti win top prizes in the Amazing Achievements Great and Small, Youth of the Year and Enjoy and Protect categories respectively.
Over the past two weeks Clean Coasts have honoured winning groups, individuals, communities and businesses who have won an Ocean Hero Award for outstanding work and commitment to their coastlines and areas.
Each year, the Ocean Hero Awards honour the invaluable contribution Clean Coasts volunteers, groups and communities have made towards conserving our spectacular coastline. The awards, originally called the ‘Clean Coasts Merit Awards’, were conceived in 2006. Being Ireland’s foremost community-based coastal education programme, the Clean Coasts programme can count on the work of over 1,800 volunteer groups and over 37,000 volunteers. The involvement and support of the whole community are essential to the work of Clean Coasts and the Ocean Hero Awards is an award thought to recognise the invaluable contribution volunteers, groups and communities have made towards conserving the Irish coastline.
It has been an unusual year, and, like everyone, Clean Coasts and their volunteers have had to adapt. The continued support, engagement, and interest from the many Clean Coasts volunteers around the country has been outstanding, showing dedication and resilience through these testing times. Clean Coasts understands that it was not possible for everybody to take part in clean-up activities this year and for some it was incredibly frustrating not to be able to get out to those places that they love and normally care for. Nonetheless, there is great value in sharing examples of the creative solutions that groups have come up with to inspire us all to look ahead to the new year.
In an effort to recognise the growth of our volunteer groups, the number of Ocean Hero categories have expanded to include ten categories in 2021.
The categories include:
- Clean Coasts Group of Year
- Clean Coasts Volunteer of the Year
- Clean Coasts Youth of the Year
- Clean Coasts #2minutebeachclean Leader Award
- Clean Coasts #BigBeachClean Award
- Clean Coasts Beach Clean Bubble Award
- Clean Coasts #EnjoyandProtect Award
- Think Before You Flush Community of the Year (supported by Irish Water)
- Clean Coasts Corporate Volunteering Award
- Clean Coasts Amazing Achievements Great and Small Award
2021 saw three Cork based volunteers win top prizes. Caroline Davy from the Blackrock Clean Coasts group in Cork won a special prize entitled Amazing Achievements Great and Small that honours the unexpected, innovative and brilliant ways people have supported Clean Coasts groups in their region.
St Colman’s Community College in Midleton won the Youth of the Year award for their commitment to litter picking and beach cleans over the past year.
Paddle boarding and litter picking leader Subowti won the Enjoy and Protect award for pushing the message of getting together cleaning up our coast and waterways during the summer.
When asked why his group does what they do, David Ludgate of Subowti said: “I like to think that we are fighting back against the constant polluting of our waters with marine litter and microplastics. we promote our waterways and coast as the fantastic resources that they are, and we raise awareness of tackling the pollution issue head on. I am frequently to be found out on my SUP on a plastic-clearing paddle. My tag line is – Happiest when in the water, saddest when it gets polluted.”
Shortlisted Cork groups and individuals from this year’s competition included Clean Coasts Ballynamona in the Group of the Year category, Sally O’Reilly (a member of Clean Coasts Ballynamona) in the Individual of the year category, Mark McCarthy in the #2minutebeachclean Leader Award category and Heron Help (Sam Fitzgibbon) in the Enjoy and Protect Award category.
This year in place of a traditional awards ceremony Clean Coasts decided to do something a little bit different. They surprised the Cork winners with their very own Covid safe awards ceremony where they were presented with an Ocean Heroes plaque.
Sinead McCoy, Clean Coasts Manager said:
I would like to congratulate all of the Ocean Hero Awardee, our shortlist and winners are incredibly inspiring volunteers, groups and communities that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting Ireland’s coastal environment. The Clean Coasts programme’s Ocean Hero Awards have been celebrating the incredible efforts of volunteers around the Irish Coastline since 2006. Although 2021 has been challenging at times it has been an incredible year for Clean Coasts and our network has grown so much and shown an incredible amount of dedication and care for our beaches, coastline, marine life and oceans. We were delighted to have received so many inspirational nominations that show not only the true dedication of these coastal custodians, but also that their efforts don’t go unnoticed by the community.
These various ceremonies were filmed and compiled into a celebration video that can be found on Clean Coast’s YouTube Channel here: https://youtu.be/4dkQ4TxfusU
2021 Ocean Hero Award winners included:
Group of the Year Award Winner 2021
Cooley Community Alert Peninsula Marine, Dundalk, Co. Louth
Individual of the Year Award Winner 2021
Mairead Staunton Keep Our Beaches Clean, Co. Mayo
Youth of the Year Award Winner 2021
St Colman’s Community College, Midleton, Co. Cork
#2minutebeachclean Leader Award Winner 2021
Sean Ferguson, Co. Wexford
Big Beach Clean Award Winner 2021
Banna Beach Coastcare Group, Tralee, Co. Kerry
Enjoy and Protect Award Winner 2021
Subowti, Co. Cork
Beach Clean Bubble Award Winner 2021
Keep Our Beaches Clean, Co. Mayo
Think Before You Flush Award 2021
Martina Butler – North West Sea Kayaking Association, Co. Sligo
Corporate Volunteering Award Winner 2021
Lidl Ireland
Amazing Efforts Award Winner 2021
Caroline Davy, Co. Cork
Notes:
WEBSITE
Ocean Hero: https://cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/ocean-hero-awards/
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook: @CleanCoasts
Twitter: @CleanCoasts
Instagram: @cleancoasts
YouTube: Clean Coasts Ireland
Linkedin: Clean Coasts
HASHTAGS
#OceanHero #CleanCoasts
Shortlisted nominees
Group of the Year 2021
Winner: Cooley Community Alert Peninsula Marine, Dundalk, Co. Louth
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Friends of Rossnowlagh | Co. Donegal |
| Clean Coasts Ballynamona | Youghal, Co. Cork |
| Ring Peninsula Community Group | Co. Waterford |
Individual of the Year 2021
Winner: Mairead Staunton Keep Our Beaches Clean, Co. Mayo
Shortlist:
| Individual | Location | Group |
| Clare Wall | Co. Donegal | Friends of Rossnowlagh |
| Rachel Saint Sevin | Arklow Co Wicklow | Arklow Coastcare Group |
| Sally O’ Reilly | Youghal, Co. Cork | Clean Coasts Ballynamona
|
Youth of the Year 2021
Winner: St Colman’s Community College, Midleton, Co. Cork
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Scoil Mhuire Buncrana | Co. Donegal |
| Hazel and Jesse Hastings | Co. Mayo (Keep Our Beaches Clean) |
#2minutebeachclean Leader Award 2021
Winner: Sean Ferguson, Co. Wexford
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Keep Sligo Clean | Co. Sligo |
| Mark McCarthy (Mark Schull or The Plastic Bandits) | Skull, Co Cork |
| Leitrim Litterpicker | Co. Leitrim |
Big Beach Clean Award 2021
Winner: Banna Beach Coastcare Group, Tralee, Co. Kerry
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Bettystown Tidy Town | Co. Meath |
| Gormanstown Community Association Ltd. | Co. Meath |
| Tramore Eco Group (Also mention Ann and 2minutbeachclean in write up). | Co. Waterford |
Enjoy and Protect Award 2021
Winner: Subowti, Co. Cork
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Wexford Sub Aqua Club | Co. Wexford |
| Heron Help | Co. Cork |
| Our Crossing | Co. Sligo |
Beach Clean Bubble Award 2021
Winner: Keep Our Beaches Clean, Co. Mayo
Shortlist:
| Group | Location |
| Killaspugbrone Clean Coasts | Co. Sligo |
| Bettystown Tidy Towns | Co. Meath |
| Wexford Estuary Group | Co. Wexford |
Think Before You Flush Award 2021
Winner: Martina Butler – North West Sea Kayaking Association , Co. Sligo
Shortlist:
- Citibank
- DCU Canoe Club
- UCD Surf Club
Corporate Volunteering Award 2021
Winner: Lidl Ireland
Shortlist:
- Salesforce
- Ulster Bank
- EY
Amazing Efforts Award 2021
Winner: Caroline Davy, Co. Cork
About Clean Coasts:
Clean Coasts is a charity programme, run through the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, which engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life. Clean Coasts works with communities to help protect and care for Ireland’s waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life. Clean Coasts thrives to create tangible and immediate improvements to Ireland’s coastal environment, involving thousands of volunteers removing large quantities of marine litter from our coastline each year.
Clean Coasts has grown over the years and now includes two main national clean-up drives. Other initiatives include the Green Coast Award, the Love Your Coast Photography competition, the Clean Coasts Roadshows for coastal communities and the Ocean Hero Awards. All these initiatives are aimed at celebrating the beauty of our coast and the efforts of our volunteers across all of Ireland.
Currently, there are over 1,800 registered Clean Coasts volunteering groups. There are a variety of group types such as community groups, residents’ associations, tidy towns groups, sports clubs, schools, businesses, universities etc. Clean Coasts organises hundreds of beach clean-ups annually mobilising thousands of volunteers, removing considerable quantities of marine litter from Ireland’s beaches and waterways. Our volunteering has expanded to also include Corporate Volunteering.
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