Derry students at Thornhill College scooped the Young Enterprise Northern Ireland Northwest Company of the Year 2023, as well as the Special Recognition Award, at last weekend's Young Enterprise Awards 2023 in Belfast City Hall.
Just last month they received the Business and Entrepreneurship Award at the Derry Credit Union Young People’s Awards.
The girls took home the award for their ‘To My Younger Self’ Young Enterprise Company.
The company aims to educate and raise awareness of issues which girls will unfortunately most likely encounter in their lifetimes.
They produced a book to help support young girls with the issues they will face growing up in today's world.
The book contains personal stories and advice from each of the students on experiences they have encountered as young women on issues such as misogyny, cat calling, harassment and period poverty.
They have worked in conjunction with organisations such as the Education Authority and Education Authority Youth, as well as the Women’s committees which work in the Youth centres.
The book is targeted at girls ages 14 to 18, and is written from the perspective of girls who have had their own personal experience growing up, and now wish to tell those going through that experience what they wish they knew.
The book is specific to the experience of growing up in Northern Ireland as a female, and what the life of a teenage girl is like, 25 years after the peace process and Good Friday Agreement.
The concept behind the book is based on the idea that if the girls were 14 years old again, what would they say to their younger selves.
The book has been created within the guidelines of the new Relationships and Sex Education curriculum introduced by CCEA so that it will be able to be distributed to schools within NI.
The girls' primary aim is to sell the books to schools in Derry and beyond to form part of the Relationships and Sexual Education Curriculum.
A spokesperson for the group said: "The award ceremony was amazing, as we were given the opportunity to meet Joe Kennedy III, and celebrate the successes of other Young Enterprise groups.
"Collectively, our team would have wished to see improved diversity on the judging panel, with an equal, representative amount of women and men, as well as some of a diverse background, and members from across both sides of the community in NI.
"Our school, Thornhill has been incredibly supportive of us and our journey, especially our teacher, Garreth Quigley who has been the biggest motivator and champion for our group- he even got us a limo all the way to Belfast.
"Our Young Enterprise team has thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and learning more about the process of working with different organisations and charities to gain a better insight into the inequalities which exist for women."
The girls have received positive reviews from many people in business and education with the Education Authority Youth Work Alliance investing several thousand pounds to purchase copies of the book for youth centres across Northern Ireland.
The girls have a massive social media presence with thousands of social media followers, TMYS also won a recent competition for best UK brand as voted for by Colgate UK, Palmolive UK and Sanex UK.
The judges wrote: "The objective of this brand is very purpose driven and the way they have reflected this within their logo is excellently done. It is distinct, shows emotion, warmth and usage of a silhouette is really striking as it can represent all women. Amazing job."
The girls also took part in the Young Enterprise Trade Fair at Foyleside Shopping Centre on February 10 and won awards for Most Innovative Product and Best Marketing team.
The students have attended focus groups and have considered engaging with young boys about creating a product that gives advice to young men as well as looking at supporting persons within the LGBTQ+ community.
These books will form part of the company's legacy as their brand continues to grow.
Thornhill College teacher Gareth Quigley said: "‘To My Younger Self have had considerable success this year and the team are working extremely hard to ensure that every girl in Northern Ireland gets the opportunity to read their book.
"The girls have worked incredibly hard this year to produce a fantastic product that will support young girls all over Northern Ireland.
"This work was completed at a time when these students are working hard on their A Levels and giving up much of their time outside of school to ensure they deliver on their aims of supporting young girls, like themselves, who are experiencing these issues every day. It is for the reasons stated above that these young girls deserve to be nominated to win this award."
