Tipperary students scoop awards for their German essays

ABOVE: From left, Dr Declan Downey, President, Irish Austrian Society; Ulrike Schoeller (essay competition organiser), Conor Gannon (senior winner), Liam Freaney (TY winner), Martina O’Reilly, German teacher, High School; Arek Turowski (runner-up in the junior category) and Dr Thomas Nader, Austrian Ambassador

This year the Irish Austrian Society celebrated 25 years of the National German Essay competition.
Over 450 secondary school students from all over Ireland submitted essays in the hope of being recognised for their use of the German language.
University lecturers from Trinity, Maynooth and UCC had the difficult task of selecting the winning essays and much to the delight of the CBS High School, Clonmel, three students were among the winners.
Conor Gannon, a Fifth Year student was the senior winner for his essay titled Wozu brauchen wir die Europäische Union? (Why do we need the European Union?).

Above: Conor Ganon (senior winner) with his parents Olga and Martin Gannon

Liam Freaney was the winner of the Transition Year category for writing a very descriptive essay titled Österreich und Irland überlegen: Sollen wir Pfand auf Plastikflaschen einführen (Austria and Ireland are considering introducing the deposit return scheme for plastic bottles).
Under normal circumstances, both students would receive a scholarship to study in Austria for two weeks.
However, due to Covid and being unable to travel they received Apple iPads instead.
Conor also received the Dr Otto Glaser trophy, with the Dubsky Environmental trophy being awarded to Liam.

Above: Present at the awards ceremony at the Austrian embassy were, from left, Ulrike Schoeller, Dr Thomas Nader, Austrian Ambassador to Ireland; Meadhbh Freaney, Liam Freaney (TY winner), Michael Freaney and Dr Declan Downey, President of the Irish Austrian Society

Arek Turowski, a Third Year student, wrote a beautiful essay on why the time has finally come to go on a skiing trip to Austria and his reward was second place in the junior category, along with receiving the St Fergal trophy. The three students, along with their families and German teacher Martina O’Reilly were invited to the awards ceremony hosted by the Austrian Ambassador, Dr Thomas Nader at his palatial residence in Ailesbury Road, Dublin.
Professor Declan Downey, President of the Irish Austrian Society spoke about the importance of languages and how so many doors are opened if young people further their horizons by learning a foreign language.
German is the most widely spoken language in the European Union - ahead of Spanish, French and English.
It offers an abundance of opportunities leading to numerous jobs in multinational companies.

Above: From left, Ulrike Schoeller, Dr Thomas Nader, Austrian Ambassador to Ireland; Arek Turowski (junior runner-up), Renata Kowalik and Dr Declan Downey, President of the Irish Austrian Society

At present, there are over 5,000 vacancies in Ireland that cannot be filled due to young people not having German on their curriculum vitae.
The very diligent and motivating woman behind the organisation of the essay competition, Frau Ulrike Schoeller, said she was amazed at how the competition continues to grow from strength to strength each year and how the standard of German in the essays is extremely high.
Many former winners have gone on to greater things as a result of winning this internationally-recognised and prestigious competition.

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