VODAFONE INCREASES PRIZE FUND FOR 2010/’11 ‘TRY HARDER’ RUGBY AWARDS FOR SCHOOLS

VODAFONE has launched the 2010/’11 Try Harder Rugby Awards for Schools with even bigger and better prizes for winners, their schools and their rugby coaches.
This season, each month’s winner will receive a sports voucher for £300; his school will receive a £500 voucher and will be offered a communications review from Vodafone, and the nominating rugby coach will receive the very latest iPhone 4. And the name of every rugby coach who nominates a player will be put into the hat for a very special prize at the end of the season.
Another innovation for this year’s Awards is that nominations can be made online. Schools rugby coaches wishing to nominate players can go to www.tryharder.co.uk. Paper nomination forms, however, can still be obtained by phoning Duffy Rafferty Communications on 028 9073 0880 or by emailing naomi@duffyrafferty.com and requesting one.
Pauline Quigley, Head of Vodafone Northern Ireland said, “Try Harder has been very successful over the past few years, with schools from all over Northern Ireland nominating players of all ages and abilities for awards, based on their willingness to try harder at their rugby.
“There is no doubt that the game is progressing really well at schools level with more and more Ulster schools starting to teach and play the sport.
“We at Vodafone are delighted this season to be able to offer enhanced prizes to the ‘Try Harder’ winners, the winners’ schools and the rugby coaches and we hope that with nominations being taken online, it will make it even easier to nominate players.
“Vodafone started the Try Harder Awards to encourage all players, not to reward the best players”, Pauline added. “We also wanted to ensure a ‘level playing field’ for all the rugby-playing schools so that they all would have an equal chance of having a winner.”
This is the fourth season of the Vodafone Try Harder Rugby Awards for Schools. The project was initiated to encourage the playing of rugby in schools and to highlight Vodafone as one of Ulster Rugby’s main sponsors.
This season there will be five awards presented for the months of October and November 2010 and for January, February and March 2011. Nominations for each month’s award should be made before the 10th of the following month. So nominations for the first (October) award should be made by November 10th.

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Over the three years of the Awards there have been winners from schools all around the country and of all ages. Last year’s winners were:
Cathal McNally from Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School in Newry, Mark McIlwaine, from Lurgan Junior High School, Cory Ponter from Antrim Grammar School, Adam Sherrard from Coleraine Academical Institution and twins Josiah and Louis Whitworth from Drumragh College in Omagh.