2 Offaly Schools shortlisted for Young Social Innovator of the Year 2015
2 schools in Offaly have been shortlisted for the 2015 Young Social Innovator of the Year awards. 61 projects were shortlisted from over 400 entries and the overall winner will be announced in at the Annual Awards and Showcase, which takes place onWednesday May 6th in the Citywest Hotel, Conference and Event Centre, Dublin.
The Young Social Innovators of the Year 2015 Awards and Showcase is the biggest celebration of social innovation in Ireland and one of the largest youth events in the country with over 5,000 young people attending. The event gives young people from all over the country the opportunity to exhibit their project work through presentations, posters and exhibition stands as well as featuring lots of indoor and outdoor educational, social and interactive activities and events.
Speaking about the Young Social Innovators 2015 Awards and Showcase event, Rachel Collier, CEO, Young Social Innovators (YSI) said, “This event is a huge part of the Young Social Innovators experience. It offers a wonderful opportunity to the young people involved to showcase the innovation projects they have been engaged in over the course of the academic year. These young people have demonstrated that they can play a major part in tackling difficult and serious social issues in creative and innovative ways to bring positive change to communities in Ireland and abroad. They are an inspiration to all of us and deserve to be recognised for what they have managed to achieve and the impact they have made.”
The Young Social Innovators of the Year 2015 Awards and Showcase is supported by YSI’s official partner, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation. Speaking about the partnership, Natalie Hodgess, Manager of the Vodafone Ireland Foundation, said “We are consistently astounded by the levels of creativity and innovation that these young people bring to the social issues they choose to address through Young Social Innovators. We are extremely proud to be the Official Partner of Young Social Innovators and of this event, and to support young people in creating the type of society that they wish to see for themselves and future generations. We look forward to achieving our ambitious target of creating 100,000 social innovators in Ireland by 2015.”
This year over 6000 young people have been working hard on projects to create awareness about social issues such as health, homelessness, domestic violence, LGBT rights, disability, safety and bullying. At the Young Social Innovators 2015 Awards and Showcase shortlisted teams will get the opportunity to present their projects to judging panels and compete for an award in a number of categories.
As well as the overall Young Social Innovators of the Year 2015 title awards, awards will also be presented for the best social innovation projects within the following Challenge areas:
- Making Our Community Better
- Making Our World a Better Place for Young People
- Making Our World Fair and Just
- Making Our World Greener
- Making Our World Healthier – Mental Health
- Making Our World Healthier – Physical Health
- Making Our Country More Inclusive & Poverty Free
- Making Our World One World
- Making Our World Safer
- Relationships & Sexual Health Challenge
- Step Up Challenge
A full list of nominated projects is included below in notes to editors. For more information about Young Social Innovators or the 2015 Showcase and Awards, please visit www.youngsocialinnovators.ie
Below is the list of the Offaly schools that are nominated for an award:
Offaly
Making Our Community Better, Hunger for Health, Tullamore College, Offaly
Making Our World Healthier – Physical Health, Blood Donation, Sacred Heart Secondary School, Offaly
