Donegal students reach finals of Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards

Students from three schools in Donegal have been shortlisted for the Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards.

The students will join finalists from 15 other counties who have reached the final on May 9 of the prestigious awards for their social innovation projects across categories including, ‘Planet Protectors’, ‘Push Back on Poverty’ and ‘Make our World a Safer Place’.

The schools travelling to the Aviva Stadium from Donegal include Loreto Community School, Milford, Scoil Mhuire Secondary School, Buncrana and Abbey Vocational School, Donegal for their projects.

All three are in the Planet Protectors Award category - A Bog Garden, Loreto Community School, Milford; Water are we doing? Scoil Mhuire Secondary School, Buncrana; and The Bees' Needs, Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town.
The YSI awards, now in their twenty-third year, celebrate excellence in youth-led social innovation nationwide and over forty teams successfully pitched to a panel of expert judges to earn a place on the 2024 shortlist.

Speaking at the pitching event for the Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards, CEO of YSI, Roger Warnock, said:
“Due to the high quality of ideas this year, a larger number of teams (37) were selected for the final pitches. This demonstrates the ongoing passion, creativity and commitment of our young people, their teachers and parents to making their communities and the world a better place to live, working together to co-create engaging solutions to real-world issues they see around them.
“As always, the judging panel and I have been blown away by the research and expertise shown by the Donegal students at the pitching event and we look forward to announcing the winners on May 9 in Dublin.”