Has anyone seen the greenest place in Ireland? Let us know if you think you have below. Back for a second year, The Irish Times Ireland’s Greenest Places competition is once again looking for readers to have their say on where the country’s greenest community, suburb, town or village is. After Dingle’s overall success, built on locally led community-based initiatives last year, the hunt is now on to see who will take the honour of being their successor. And it’s anyone’s game this year as category winners from last year’s awards – Dún Laoghaire, Inagh, Skerries, the Dysart river project, Dingle – are exempt from claiming the title again in 2026.Awards will be made to Ireland’s Greenest Community, Greenest Suburb, Greenest Town or Village as well as one overall winner. You can take a look at some of the entries already rolling in here. Yet Ireland’s green spirit is not only to be found in its places. This year brings a new award in the form of Net Zero Hero category – a chance to uplift an individual for their tireless climate action that’s made an impact. If there’s someone you think should have a spotlight on their work, who embodies what it means to be a Net Zero Hero, this is your chance to voice that. All submitted entries will be individually assessed by a panel of judges before a longlist is compiled. Following this, our judges hit the roads to take a visit to these places themselves, so make sure you give your entry the strongest chance by taking the time to write up a considered pitch. The bulk of last year’s packed judging panel are back again in 2026 – former Green Party leader and ex-minister for the environment and climate Eamon Ryan, environmental consultant and former Irish Times environment editor Kevin O’Sullivan, Irish Times senior features writer Rosita Boland, and Lisa Browne, head of marketing and customer insights at ESB. Joining them for the first time this year are biologist, environmental consultant, author and radio presenter Éanna Ní Lamhna, and Shannen Healy, sustainability consultant known as @_greengal on Instagram and other platforms.The closing date for entries is Saturday, August 1st, so there’s still time to make your voice heard and uplift the work of one or many in a way that counts. As Eamon Ryan wrote recently, awards like these can “give us all some hope in this uncertain and insecure world, which we need to change one street at a time”.