Best Sporting School Award for Our Lady’s
Our Lady’s Grammar School has won the Best Sports School of the Year award at the inaugural Local Women Sport Magazine – Women’s Sports Awards 2023. The competition was the first awards night for women in all sports across Ireland and the UK and took place last Friday 14th April at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.
Following the event, Fiona McAlinden, Director of Our Lady’s said: “We were delighted to be recognized as the 2023 Women’s Local Sports School of the Year at an event at Europa on Friday night.
“In announcing Our Lady’s as the winner, the judges cited the school’s success across a wide range of sports, including camogie, Gaelic football, gymnastics and netball.
“I would like to acknowledge our outstanding physical education teachers, as well as our coaches who put so much time, energy and enthusiasm into the education of our students.”
The awards, sponsored by fuel supplier Go, are another milestone for Ireland’s first and only women’s sports publication, Local Women Sports Magazine, which has teamed up with Belfast Live as media partner for the event.
The prestigious awards show was hosted by UTV athlete and hockey player Ruth Gorman, who also joined the star-studded panel of judges. The judges included former Northern Ireland women’s captain Gail Redmond MBE, who works at Football Association of Ireland as a women’s development manager; Ulster Rugby Women’s and Girls’ Rugby Development Manager Eliza Downey; dr Katie Liston, former elite athlete and Senior Lecturer in Sport at the University of Ulster; BBC sports presenter Nicola McCarthy; Gemma Garrett, digital editor of Local Women Magazine; Zoe Watson from Belfast Live; Sport NI Women in Sport Forum Chair Arlene Watters; Camog Catriona Channing and Sales Manager for GO, Laura Loughran.
GO’s Laura Loughran said: “GO is proud to sponsor the Local Women Magazine Sports Awards. We encourage and admire innovation and are excited to celebrate the first time honoring women in sport at an all-women awards night. We certainly have world-class athletes in our country and the level of registrations has been exceptionally high. We received hundreds of nominations, so I didn’t envy the judges for their job.”
Belfast Live Editor Sheena McStravick said: “We are delighted to be part of this fantastic event to shine the spotlight on our incredible female athletes.
“So many women across the country are paving the way and inspiring future generations to pursue and achieve their dreams in whatever sport they choose, and we should rightly celebrate that. It has been a fantastic year for women in sport and we look forward to continuing and getting stronger in 2023.”