Adorable Irish kids’ science video among winners of short film award

13 Nov 2018

Boy taking a video. Image: alialka/Depositphotos

Three groups of students from Wicklow, Kilkenny and Galway have been named winners of the ReelLife Science competition to create the best short science videos.

Earlier this year, young people from across Ireland were asked to take part in the ReelLife Science video competition to see which students of schools and community groups could best communicate science and technology via engaging and educational short videos.

After receiving a total of 175 entries from across 80 such schools and groups, a panel of judges – including comedian Dara Ó Briain, astronaut in training Norah Patten and BT Young Scientist 2018 winner Simon Meehan – was able to announce the winners.

The first set of winners were 24 third- and fourth-class students from Powerscourt National School in Co Wicklow who gave an entertaining and educational account of the body’s largest organ in ‘Science and Me: The Skin’.

The second group of winners hailed from Loreto Secondary School in Kilkenny where transition-year students Emer Tobin and Katherine Morrow depicted the life of Rosalind Franklin, who was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

The final winner revealed was Sean Janson of the Lackagh Foróige group in Co Galway who demonstrated the ‘Science of Smashing’ with equations, experiments and personality.

Each of the groups received €1,000 as part of their prize.

The competition is organised by NUI Galway and supported by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover programme, the Community Knowledge Initiative, medical device research centre Cúram and the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science at the Galway university.

Speaking of the event, Patten said: “I think this is a fantastic initiative because the students are not only learning about a scientific topic, they are also developing skills to communicate what they’ve learnt. These types of hands-on, practical projects will be really valuable as they progress through to the next stage of their career.”

A number of other awards were announced for schools and groups by the event’s organisers, including:

  • Gaelscoil Riabhach: Loughrea, Co Galway
  • Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál: Carlow town, Co Carlow
  • St Mary’s College: Galway city, Co Galway
  • Skerries Community College: Skerries, Co Dublin
  • Westside Youth Project: Rahoon, Co Galway
  • Galway Parkinson’s Association: Galway city, Co Galway

Boy taking a video. Image: alialka/Depositphotos

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com