Deadline looming for Gaelic Business and Community of the year awards.

The deadline is looming for applications to the’˜Gleus’ and’˜Gnìomh’ competitions’˜ the Gaelic Community and Business of the Year Awards 2011.

Only a fortnight remains until the competition deadline of 30th June, by which time entries must be submitted to Comunn na Gàidhlig.

The prize fund is a total of £10,000, in addition to the profile and prestige of the winners’ slots.

The competitions are managed by Comunn na Gàidhlig, on behalf of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and this is only the second year they’™ve been held.

Lat year Co-Chomunn na Pàirc in South Lochs in Lewis won the Gaelic Business of the Year Award, and Staffin in North East Skye won the Gaelic Community Award.

Myles Campbell, a member of the Staffin Community Trust committee, and who was involved in the application, said they were delighted with there success:’˜Although we knew there was a lot of Gaelic and Gaelic-related activity taking place in the area, we really didn’™t know how we’™d get on in the competition. We were delighted to be told we’™d won. The prize of £3,000 has helped fund projects and lever in other money, but the award has also helped to highlight the role and place of Gaelic to the wider community.’™

Nominations for’˜Gleus’™, the Gaelic Commnity of the Year should highlight communities which can demonstrate the use of Gaelic as a spoken language, high visibility of the language in the community, frequency of’˜Gàidhealach’ (Gaelic cultural) social events, the availability of Gaelic education and childcare and the use of Gaelic amongst young people, or those who are making strong progress towards the above.

Entries for Gleus, The Community of the Year competition, may be made by any recognised and clearly defined community throughout the Highlands and Islands.  There are no strict limits to the size of the community, be it a township, village or collection of townships or villages as long as the area can be defined as having a sense of belonging to a common community.

Gnìomh’˜ The Gaelic Business of the Year award will go to the businesses that can best demonstrate a strong use of Gaelic among staff, and with customers, which has a high level of visibility of the language within the company and which uses Gaelic in branding/marketing of the company or its products. Again, businesses making strong progress towards these objectives could be eligible.

Entries for Gniomh, The Business of the Year is open any recognised commercial enterprise operating as a business.  It should be operating on a stand-alone basis rather than as part of a wider Group and should not be part of the operation of local authorities, enterprise companies or organisations funded by public agencies.

CnaG chief executive Donald MacNeill said:’˜We know there are communities and businesses throughout this area who are doing a lot to support Gaelic, and we know that some of them are busy preparing entries to these competitions right now. We simply want to remind them that the deadline is approaching, and perhaps to encourage others to consider what they do and to submit an entry.’™

Application forms are available on the Comunn na Gàidhlig website (www.cnag.org.uk) or from the CnaG offices in Inverness and Stornoway.