An Post wins the coveted and prestigious National Website of the Year with Minister Damien English named Digital Advocate of the Year

Spanning 20 categories, the annual series rewards businesses, people and organisations who have demonstrated excellence in digital

Digital Business Ireland, the country’s dedicated representative body for the digital and e-commerce sector, and permanent tsb, Ireland’s leading provider of SME and Retail banking, has this evening (Thursday, February 3rd) announced the winners and runners-up of their annual National Digital Awards series. With leading brands such as ez Living, Harvey Norman, Pamela Scott and Currys being rewarded for their sterling efforts in the digital arena over 2021, it was Ireland’s leading supplier of postal and e-commerce services, An Post, who walked away with the prestigious National Website of the Year Award.

This year, the Awards were held digitally and MC for the evening was national broadcaster, Jonathan Healy. The Awards spanned twenty categories, and attracted more than four hundred entries from businesses, people and organisations across Ireland. Now in its second iteration, this year’s Awards series included the addition of a new category – Digital Advocate of the Year. Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Damien English T.D. was the recipient of this year’s award, in recognition of his outstanding work in helping retail businesses to enhance their digital functionality and trade online, throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

There was no cost to make a submission to the National Digital Awards, due to the ongoing support of Digital Business Ireland’s long standing partnership with permanent tsb and the generosity of the Awards’ category sponsors. These include; Campion Insurance Ltd, humm group, LoyLap, Virgin Media, Core Optimisation, Trustpilot, Fortinet, Grouper, Prommt, Magico, Codec, Milk Bottle Labs, .IE, Orbidal, OpenOut, Checkout.com, digifly, The People, Password and Lewis Silkin.

Secretary General of Digital Business Ireland, Lorraine Higgins said: “We were truly delighted to recognise the tremendous achievements of so many businesses, organisations and the people who power them through our National Digital Awards programme. Given we received over four hundred entries to this year’s series, it is fair to say that our expert judging panel had a momentous task in selecting the winners and runners-up in each category. The talent, innovation, ambition and versatility that is evident throughout the digital sector in Ireland is simply extraordinary and should be a source of great national pride among all of us”.

“This Awards programme would not have been possible without the support of our partners in permanent tsb, who continue to champion SMEs and businesses in every town, across every county in Ireland. On behalf of all at Digital Business Ireland, our partners and members, I would like to thank every single one of the four hundred entrants for taking the initiative and getting involved in the process. We also wish to extend our most heartfelt congratulations to each of the businesses, people and organisations who have been awarded across the twenty categories”.

“While the depth of talent in this year’s series was simply awe-inspiring, we are now firmly focused on next year’s iteration – and I encourage every applicant who may not have been successful this year, to take the key learnings on-board from this year’s process and get involved once again in 2022”.

Head of Business Banking at PTSB, Mags Brennan said: “Throughout 2021, businesses throughout Ireland have faced extraordinary challenges. In responding to shifting consumer trends, many have had to transform their operations and embrace digitalisation and all that it offers. The resilience, determination and entrepreneurial spirit that has been shown by businesses over the last year has been nothing short of remarkable.

I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to each of this year’s winners, while offering a sincere thank you to the 400 businesses who took the time to enter across the three award categories. PTSB is honoured to support the National Digital Awards in celebrating your achievements, while acknowledging everything that you have overcome in the last year.”