More than 30 teams from around the country were shortlisted for this year’s Awards. Two teams of Dublin teenagers are among the winners of the Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards 2020 while two more were Highly Commended in their Award categories following the recent Awards’ announcements.
Youthreach, Clondalkin, won the ‘Make Our World Healthier (Mental Health)’ Challenge, supported by the HSE, for their efforts to promote a positive, supportive and welcoming environment in their Youthreach Centre to improve the mental wellbeing of all learners.
Students from Mercy College, Coolock, won the ‘Making Our Future More Sustainable’ Award for their project ‘Climate Activists’ which focused on raising awareness of the importance of climate change and how it will affect future generations. Teams from Castleknock Community College, Dublin 15, and Coláiste Bríde, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, were highly commended for their respective projects on promoting the rights of unmarried fathers in Ireland and for promoting sports amongst girls.
Due to Covid-19, this year’s annual Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards 2020 event, traditionally held in early May, was postponed .The Challenge Award-winning teams will now be invited to compete at a dedicated event to be held in the Autumn, in the hopes of winning the overall Young Social Innovators of the Year 2020 award.
Make Our World Healthier (Mental Health) Challenge: Youthreach Clondalkin – Promoting Positive Mental Wellbeing was a winner in the challenge.
Over 7,000 teenagers from all over Ireland took part in Young Social Innovators this year creating and implementing innovative solutions to social issues facing communities and wider society. Over 400 projects were created by teams addressing issues such as mental and physical wellbeing, climate change, sustainability,and environmental protection, diversity and inclusion, and social isolation, amongst others. 33 high impact social innovation projects were shortlisted from all of the entries received and, last week, the 12 winners of the Challenge and Spotlight Awards were announced following virtual judging by panels of independent judges.
Announcing the Challenge Award winners, Young Social Innovators CEO, Rachel Collier, said: “Young people can be a powerful force for good in their communities and this is demonstrated year on year through the hundreds of social innovations created by teenagers through YSI. Despite a very challenging end to the year, the quality of projects submitted was extremely high and I congratulate all of those who were awarded and highly commended for their outstanding efforts. Communities need their young people now more than ever as we come together in this time of crisis, and teenagers have shown that, when given the opportunity, they can create incredible solutions to the very serious challenges facing us. We are delighted to see so many teenagers respond to the recently launched #YSIOpenCall campaign, creating and submitting ideas to tackle issues in their communities as a result of coronavirus. We encourage even more to answer this call”
