Wexford County Council And South East Radio Announce Landmark Awards Partnership

Wexford County Council is joining forces with South East Radio in a landmark three-year partnership celebrating the people, businesses and organisations helping to make County Wexford a great place to live, work, visit and do business.

The partnership will support South East Radio’s two major annual awards programmes – the Customer Service Awards in June and the Hospitality Awards in November.

Together, the campaigns shine a spotlight on excellence across the county, from outstanding customer service in retail, financial and motor businesses to the hotels, restaurants, bars, visitor attractions, tourism and leisure businesses that play such an important role in Wexford’s economy and reputation.

The Hospitality Awards celebrate the diverse talent and businesses across the sector, with categories including Wedding Co-ordinator of the Year, Best Use of Local Produce, Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year, Best Hotel Spa, Best Hotel Leisure Centre and Business of the Year – Under 2 Years, alongside a wide range of other awards recognising excellence across Wexford’s hospitality and tourism industry.

The scale of public involvement continues to grow. More than 12,000 nominations were received for the 2026 Customer Service Awards, while last year’s Hospitality & Tourism Awards attracted more than 10,000 nominations.

The 2026 Customer Service Awards culminated in a spectacular gala evening at the Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy, where 61 awards were presented to businesses and individuals from across the county.

South East Radio invests more than €40,000 in each awards campaign, using its extensive on-air and digital platforms to encourage listeners to nominate the businesses and individuals who consistently go above and beyond.

Following the public nominations, an extensive judging process takes place, combining customer feedback, business submissions and independent expert assessment. Judges include television fashion stylist Marietta Doran, whose television career has included Off the Rails and Operation Transformation, and leading travel writer Eoghan Corry of Travel Extra, with further judges to be revealed.

The campaigns culminate in gala awards nights at the Riverside Park Hotel, bringing together hundreds of people from Wexford’s business, hospitality and tourism communities and celebrating the county’s achievements, talent and success.

The partnership comes at an exciting time for South East Radio, following record audience performance. The latest independent JNLR research has established a new all-time weekly audience record for the station, building on earlier figures showing 79,000 adults listening each week and a 50% year-on-year increase in the audience reached by an average commercial message.

Will Faulkner, Managing Director of South East Radio, said:

“These awards have become much more than two big nights in the calendar. For weeks beforehand, we use the enormous reach of South East Radio to get people talking about the businesses that serve them well and to celebrate the people who are helping Wexford thrive.

“More than 20,000 nominations across our two most recent campaigns demonstrate how much the awards mean to the public and to local businesses. We then bring in independent experts to help us identify the best of the best before giving them the recognition they deserve on a fantastic awards night.

“Delivering campaigns on this scale requires a substantial investment, so having Wexford County Council come on board for three years gives us both certainty and confidence. It allows us to think bigger and make the awards even stronger. We’re delighted to have the Council as a partner in celebrating the very best of County Wexford.”

South East Radio’s awards are now firmly established as key events in Wexford’s business calendar, combining public nominations, independent judging, extensive radio and digital promotion and high-profile gala events to recognise achievement and shine a national and regional spotlight on the businesses that make County Wexford such a special place.

Nominations are officially live from today so visit southeastradio.ie.