Clare Youth Service has been honoured for their creativity in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) at the 2020 ESB Creative Tech Fest.
They took home the ‘Covid Community Responder’ award for their project ‘Virtual Summer Camp 2020’. The senior youth group participated in mobile journalism training facilitated by TechSpace this year. They then went on to make their own instructional videos and created a virtual summer camp website for their peers.
Over 1,000 young people, aged between 10 and 18, from youth clubs, schools and gaelscoileanna across Ireland, took part in the first-ever virtual ESB Creative Tech Fest, the annual bilingual event celebrates the innovation, creativity and collaboration of young people who participate in TechSpace programmes nationwide across STEAM, digital creativity and computer science projects.
TechSpace is a creative technology education programme that is managed by social enterprise Camara Ireland and delivered in the informal and formal education sectors. It encourages young people to unlock their passions and potential through the creative use of technology.
The awards, hosted by TG4 presenter Micheál Ó Ciaraidh, were broadcast live from Carlow Arts Centre. There were 17 winners honoured in categories across creative computer science, digital creativity and STEAM.
In addition to the awards, an innovative Virtual Reality exhibition showcased all the project work, and there was entertainment with performances from young Irish bands and inspiring TechTalks from TikTok stars Chris is Ainm Dom and Cairde.
Pat O’Doherty, Chief Executive at ESB, outlined his admiration for the young people involved in this year’s ESB Creative Tech Fest awards: “It is both reassuring and inspiring to see the innovation and creativity in the projects submitted for this year’s awards, and we congratulate each of the nominees and winners for their work. Every young person in the TechSpace programme should be hugely proud of what they have achieved, in such challenging circumstances, this year.”
Marianne Checkley, CEO of Camara Ireland said ensuring the awards went ahead virtually was a key priority: “There has been some hugely inspiring projects despite the really difficult circumstances this year and, despite us not being able to be together in person, we wanted to bring the network together virtually, to celebrate the quite incredible achievements of educators and young people this year.”