Athy Sing and Sign honoured at national Pride of Place awards

ATHY Sing and Sign group has been recognised for its outstanding contribution to community wellbeing at the all-Ireland IPB Pride of Place Awards, held in Limerick on Friday evening.

The group was named runner-up in the Community Wellbeing Initiative: Focused category, narrowly missing out on the top spot to Timahoe Male Choir from neighbouring Laois.

Judges commended Athy Sing and Sign for empowering young people and promoting Irish Sign Language (ISL) awareness in the wider community.

The judges were treated to a very powerful sign language version of the song Lean on Me during the ceremony, which was well received by attendees.

Following the announcement, the group said they were “honoured and delighted” to be recognised among communities across the island of Ireland.

“It’s great to get that recognition. We are so honoured and delighted to win runner-up out of 32 counties!” said Maggie Owens from Athy Sing and Sign said. “Our neighbours from Laois, Timahoe Choir, were the overall winners, and we’d like to extend our congratulations to them.” 

She also expressed deep gratitude for the local support that made the achievement possible, including Kildare County Council and Carmel Cashin and Emma Edgeworth, as well as Marian Higgins, Carmel Kelly and chief executive Sonya Kavanagh.

Maggie continued: “To our amazing committee – Linda Dobbyn, Breda Moore Flynn, and Mary Byrne – thank you for your hard work and passion. To all our members and leaders, thank you for showing up, learning ISL, and embracing every new sign with enthusiasm. You make our club special.” 

The group also paid tribute to Ireland’s Deaf community, describing ISL as “your language, your culture,” and added: “We are proud and privileged to teach, share, and celebrate it with our members, and, of course, to all ISL interpreters.”