Previous high-profile award winners include: Paul O’Connell, Brendan O’Carroll, Katie Taylor, Rory McIlroy, Brian O’Driscoll, Keith Duffy, Christy Moore and Mary Robinson.
Fair City leading lady Aoibhín Garrihy and former winner Milo McCarthy joined forces on Tuesday to urge the Irish public to nominate their personal hero for the People Of The Year Award.
Nominations will close this weekend.
The final date for submissions is Friday, 1 December, meaning that you only have three days to have your voice heard.
All the winners are nominated by the Irish public and finalised by a panel of adjudicators. As well as a number of general awards, people can nominate their Young Person of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, International Person of the Year and the Community Group of the Year.
The awards, now in their 43rd year, are organised by Rehab Group. They’ll be broadcasted on RTÉ One on Saturday, March 3rd from The Mansion House.
Garrihy and McCarthy took to Dublin’s Herbert Park Hotel today to urge the general public to nominate their Person Of The Year before time’s up. Aoibhín described the awards as one of the highlights of her social calendar and urged the public to nominate somebody who deserves recognition.
Aoibhín added: “I’ve been a huge fan of the show for many years. It’s a great night out, myself and John (husband) always attend the awards and look forward to it every year. We wouldn’t miss it, you meet such incredibly brave people who have done amazing things.
“It’s such a fantastic national celebration which recognises some truly amazing people across Ireland, from all communities and backgrounds. We all know people who deserve recognition, so I hope people get nominating their heroes.”
Milo McCarthy revealed that he was totally shocked when Games of Thrones star Liam Cunningham presented him with the Young Person of the Year Award in 2016. The Corkonian received the award after he raised nearly €18,000 for Syrian refugees by busking on the streets of his hometown of Midleton.
He added: “It was a total surprise, I had no idea Liam was presenting the award to me. He was very nice and congratulated me when we spoke after the show. I still get spotted in Cork as the guy who busked to raise money for refugees. It’s such a great experience, so I’d urge everybody to nominate their heroes. There is so much negativity in the world, so it’s good to shine a light on all that is good.”
Since the busking campaign ended, Milo has also busked to raise funds for an operation to help a young boy from Cork, who has cerebral palsy, to walk.
Nominating is simple – you can submit your nomination online at www.peopleoftheyear.com or email [email protected].
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