Keadue, Co Roscommon, has been voted Ireland's tidiest town for 2003.
The village was chosen from almost 700 competitors in the annual Tidy Towns event run by Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Kenmare, Co Kerry, was voted the tidiest small town and Westport, Co Mayo, was judged to be the country's tidiest large town.
Representatives of hundreds of Tidy Towns committees were in Dublin for the award ceremony this afternoon. The Keadue committee was presented with a perpetual trophy and a cheque for €15,000. Keadue also took the overall prize for tidiest town in 1993.
Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, and Mr Michael Nason, managing director of the event's sponsoring firm, SuperValu, presented the prizes at the event in Dublin Castle.
Mr Gallagher said 2003 had been a wonderful year for Tidy Towns "with standards higher than ever". He said the only real losers were those who don't participate.
"By providing the mechanism by which people's shared values can be expressed and setting goals for all to aim towards, it is the 'politics of community' in action," Mr Gallagher said. He urged all towns and villages to take up the challenge next year.
Twelve towns and villages received a gold medal for their performance in this year's competition, an increase of four on the number awarded in 2002. A further 20 towns were awarded silver and bronze medals.
The full results are available at www.tidytowns.ie