Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of this year’s Galas 2011, in their third year, and thanks to everyone who voted! The award winners were well represented by the LBT (and non-LBT) women of Ireland.

The event last night was introduced by the wonderful Ailbhe Smyth, to kick off the ceremony which has been held annually since 2009 to say to members of the LGBT community: “Thank you, we respect you, and honour you”.

Opening the proceedings was Donna McCaul with a rousing rendition of “Listen” from the Dreamgirls film – she’s a belter! – before the awards were presented by Declan Buckley and Sonya Lennon.

The first award of the evening went to the outgoing President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, who received the Gala Award 2011 for LGBT-Friendly Political Figure of the Year. Take a listen to her acceptance speech here:

(Apologies for picture quality, but it’s worth a listen! UPDATE: GCN has posted the full version of the video onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview (‘/outbound/www.youtube.com’);”>here – avec image!)

The winner of Community Organisation went to Marriage Equality, and Employer of the Year went to IBM. The Business Person of the Year award went to Kerryann Conway of Conway Communications. Volunteer of the Year was the irrepressible Maureen Looney, the brains behind Running Amach.

The award for Journalist/Broadcaster of the Year went to TV3’s Ireland AM. The Online Award went to Suzy Byrne for MamanPoulet.com, a must for every political junkie in need of a fix. Ireland’s LGBT deaf community was honoured with the award for Voluntary Organisation going to Greenbow.

The Noel Walsh HIV Campaigner of the Year award went to Paula Gilmore of Open Heart House, who dedicated her win to all those other workers and activists supporting people living with HIV and AIDS.

National Event of the Year went to Alternative Miss Ireland, which will be staged for the last time in 2012. An AMI retrospective will be held in March 2013, looking back at pageant’s history from 1987 to 2013. A new addition to the awards, the Regional Event of the Year, went to the Cork Women’s Fun Weekend, one of the longest-running LGBT events in Ireland. Irish Artist/Entertainer of the Year went to Glória, Dublin’s Lesbian and Gay Choir.

For the second year running, an award was presented to the International Activist of the Year, sponsored by Front Line, ICCL and Amnesty Ireland. This year, the award was won by Thai activist, Paisarn Likhitpreechakul.

The final award of the evening, The 2011 Person of the Year Award, presented by Tina O’Toole, went to the fabulous (and bauld) Irish author Emma Donohue.

• The list of finalists (winners are in italics):

LGBT-Friendly Political Figure of the Year

Mary McAleese, President of Ireland
Proinsias De Rossa, MEP
Dominic Hannigan, TD

Community Organisation of the Year

Marriage Equality
TENI
Gay Men’s Health Service

Employer of the Year

IBM
Google
Ernst & Young

Business Person of the Year

Kerryann Conway
Joe Macken
Lunatic Fringe

Volunteer of the Year

Maureen Looney
Cris Pender
Sinéad Braiden

Journalist/Broadcaster of the Year

Ireland AM
Dil Wickremasinghe
Arlene Harris

Online Award: Blogger/Website of the Year

MamanPoulet.com
Gaelick.com
angryPotato.net

Voluntary Organisation

Greenbow
LGBT Helpline
Running Amach

Noel Walsh HIV Campaigner of the Year

Paula Gilmore
Positive Now
HSN Services Network

National Event of the Year

Alternative Miss Ireland
Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week
Voices of Children

Regional Event of the Year

Cork Women’s Fun Weekend
Dundalk’s Glória Christmas Concert
Cork Pride Festival

Irish Artist/Entertainer of the Year

Glória
Jaime Nanci
Veda Beaux Reves

International Activist of the Year

Paisarn Likhitpreechakul
Kasha Nabagesera
Michael Donald Kirby
AllOut.org

2011 Person of the Year

Emma Donohue

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