Out of 155 applicants, Kirklees Council had been shortlisted as a finalist in the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge, with their 'Kirklees Shares' programme. In order to make their final submission stand out against a high calibre of competitors, they invested £5,000 in the design of a new identity, master document and messaging, which broke down the complex concept successfully translating key messages in the bid’s next stage. The newly named 'Comoodle' programme was triumphant.
The city received €1million in prize funding, beating much larger cities such as Amsterdam and Madrid, whilst gaining worldwide press coverage and reaching an audience of over 100,000 online. Only five cities were chosen as finalists, with Kirklees being the only one from the UK. Fellow winners included much bigger and highly resourced cities such as Warsaw and Barcelona. Morale is at an all time high in the department as the council can now create new jobs, programmes and opportunities for the region as a whole.
