Students from Portmarnock Community School in Co Dublin have been named Young Social Innovators of the Year (YSI).
The annual awards ceremony was opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday.
They took the title for their project ‘Global Citizens Mapping the Future’.
Some 454 youth-led social innovation projects were created by young people all over Ireland.
Sixty were selected to go forward for the title and awards.
The YSI awards are now in their 15th year, with over 6,500 students involved throughout the year.
As well as the overall award, 23 other schools from across the country were named as category winners.
Co-founder of YSI, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, said: “If we use the ingenuity of young people, we will be better able to meet the challenges of today”.
“Ireland has been missing out on one of our greatest resources, the innovative thinking, the passion and energy of young people. YSI is building this generations capacity from a young age, to understand their ability to make change and to create a fairer world”.
“We are amazed each year by the ideas and innovative projects presented to YSI by such talented and passionate young people. They bring to reality the type of society we can aspire to”.
