Award win for the launch of Civic Dollars at PR Industry awards

The work of Murrays, The Digital Hub and Smart D8 on the launch of the Civic Dollars pilot project has been recognised with an award at the Awards for Excellence in Public Relations 2022.

‘A walk in the park: Launching Ireland’s first community currency’ was the winning project in the Best Use of Media Relations category at this year’s Awards for Excellence in Public Relations.

Every year the Awards for Excellence in Public Relations are hosted by the Public Relations Consultants Association Ireland (PRCA) and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and recognise best practice in Irish public relations and Communications work over the previous twelve months.

The award recognised the work of Murrays, The Digital Hub and Smart D8 in launching the innovative community currency, Civic Dollars in Dublin 8 to encourage use of public parks and drive better health outcomes for the community.

The project uses a smartphone app to reward visitors with the new Civic Dollars for spending time in participating Dublin 8 parks, which can then be exchanged for goods and services from local businesses or gifted to local community organisations.

Since the launch of Civic Dollars, the app has encouraged people to spend more time in parks in Dublin 8. It has also encouraged 43% of people to donate their civic dollars to local charities and community groups. The app has also allowed app users to report issues found around the various parks.

Read more about Civic Dollars and other Smart D8 projects at https://smartdublin.ie/smart-districts/smart-d8/