Slugger Awards

Friday 26 September 08

Slugger O'Toole is a news and research portal, looking at various strands of political aspects of life in Northern Ireland. It brings together comment from a full range of the political spectrum that should be of interest to the specialist and the general reader. It is a great place to find out about what is going on in politics in Northern Ireland - both in front of and behind the scenes.

In 2008, Slugger has branched out into the promotion of good local governance. They helped to promote the Northern Ireland Councillor Website project and in October 2008, the first 'Slugger Awards' will take place in Belfast. These awards will reward good local governance in Northern Ireland at all levels, since this can be a good opportunity to improve politics in a way that institutional reformers will never be able to.

In this way, Slugger wants to highlight the good things that are happening right now in Northern Ireland, and the awards will aim to reward effort and interactivity with a pat on the back from the blogosphere. The focus will be on local democracy.

Eleven Award Categories have been announced:
1. External Representives (MPs, MEPs and others)
2. Jobsworth of the Year
3. Journalism Award
4. Local Council of the Year
5. Local Councillor of the Year
6. Local Newspaper of the Year
7. MLA of the Year
8. Participation and Involvement Award
9. Political Blogger of the Year
10. Stormont Committee Chair of the Year
11. Up-and-coming Politician of the Year
to recognise the work of politicians, journalists, local government officers and bloggers in helping to build a stronger and more robust democracy in its widest sense.

In September our invited judging panel began their deliberations online, then meeting face-to-face to make their final decisions. The winners will be announced in Belfast on 7th October 2008.

WIMPS will be covering the whole event! One of our activists, Christopher Madden has been nominated under the 'up and coming' category, and we would love to see WIMPS nominated under the Participation and Involvement category. There is still some time - and you might want to nominate under the other categories too.

If you want to know more about it, take a look at www.sluggerotoole.com or wait for more news on the WIMPS site!!!