Updated 29 November, 9.57am

FÁILTE IRELAND HAS named Kilkenny as the country’s Tourism Town for 2013.

Mulranny in county Mayo was also honoured at an awards ceremony yesterday with the Best Small Town award.

Fáilte Ireland’s Tourism Town Award was launched last year to encourage more Irish towns and villages to work together to enhance their appeal to visitors.

The winners were chosen from a shortlist of ten top tourism towns. Both locations will each receive cash awards of €10,000 and €5,000 to help promote their locality. The other eight towns will receive €1,000 and a certificate of merit.

Last year’s inaugural winner was Portmagee in county Kerry. The awards were designed to promote Irish town and villages which are working hard to enhance their appeal to tourists visiting their area.

Earlier, we asked readers to choose between the shortlisted towns. Here’s how you voted:

Cobh, county Cork

Annie Moore was the first immigrant to the United States to pass through Ellis Island. She departed from Cobh, with her brothers Phillip and Anthony, on the steamship Nevada on 1 January 1892, her 15th birthday. Image: Cobh/Shutterstock

Drogheda, county Louth

Image: Drogheda/Shutterstock

Ennis, county Clare

Eamon de Valera, addressing a meeting in Ennis just before his arrest in a 1923 photo. (AP Photo)

Kenmare, county Kerry

The French ‘Lasuma’ team rowing across Kenmare Bay at dawn in Ireland’s Turas adventure race, 2008. (Image: Val O’Sullivan/PA Archive/Press Association Images)

Kilkenny

Alison Brierton and Donnacha O Connor, aged 2, from Kilkenny, watch the Irish Air Corps at the Bray Air Display on Bray Seafront, Wicklow. (Kenneth O Halloran/PA Archive/Press Association Images)

Letterkenny, county Donegal

Image: Letterkenny/Shutterstock

Mulranny, county Mayo

Image: Mark Waters/Flickr

Murrisk, county Mayo

Image: damiandude/Flickr

Tralee, county Kerry

Image: Julien Behal/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Westport, county Mayo

Image: Westport/Shutterstock

Which hotspot would you like to see named Ireland’s Tourism Town for 2013?

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