Kilcullen is County Kildare's Enterprising Town entrant

River Festival — one of Kilcullen's enterprising initiatives.

Kilcullen has been entered as the County Kildare representative in the Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Awards which will be announced in November, writes Brian Byrne.

It’s the second year of the Awards, and Kilcullen was nominated by Kildare County Council to the competition, which has a total prize fund of €110,000, of which the overall winner collects €23,000.

Regional winners and runners-up will receive €3,000 and €2,000 respectively, and three National category winners will receive a further €5,000. The overall winner gets €15,000 plus whatever it has collected already.

Judging of Kilcullen will take place on 1 September and will be in the form of a presentation to the judges, followed by a walk through the town to show off examples of its enterprising characteristics.

Points are awarded in six areas which show examples of local enterprise initiatives, the attractiveness of the town, collaborations with business and local authorities, forward thinking and planning, the community support of business, services and local organisations, and recognition that the town has received in the past.

Kilcullen’s positioning in the competition is in the medium 3,001-7,000 population category.

A number of Kilcullen groups, including Kilcullen Community Action/Tidy Towns, are currently planning the presentation, in association with Kildare County Council and Kildare Chamber.

Last year’s entry for Kildare was Maynooth.

In April 2016, Kilcullen was chosen as an Enterprise Town in the BofI programme, which resulted in the promotion of over 100 business and community groups in a weekend of Expos.