Laois students reach semi-finals of Young Environmentalist Awards

Young people from Laois were among teams from schools and youth groups that took part in the regional semi-finals of the Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA).

Those shortlisted included a team from Mountmellick Community School, with their project focusing on waste. The students introduced recycling bins throughout the school and displayed posters stating clearly what could be recycled and what could not. They also targeted electricity waste by running a campaign asking teachers to switch off lights and computers after each class.

Run by ECO-UNESCO, the Young Environmentalist Awards is an all-Ireland environmental awards programme that recognises the work of young people who have taken environmental action in their school or community and come up with creative solutions to solve environmental issues. 

The semi-final rounds of the YEA competition are known as ECO Dens, where groups from across the country are chosen to present their environmental projects at Dragons Den style events to a panel of experts. Four rounds of ECO Dens take place during March and April, with events in Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster.

Commenting on the semi-finals, Elaine Nevin, Director of ECO-UNESCO, said: “We’re continuing this year’s ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards with our third round of semi-finals in University of Galway. This year is a very special year as it marks 25 years of the Young Environmentalist Awards. It’s a testament to the passion young people in Ireland have for solving environmental issues with over 65,000 young people participating over the last 25 years.

“It’s fantastic to see such a spread of entries this year, from across 30 counties with projects ranging from investigating wind turbine efficiency to the importance of worms in biodiversity. Unfortunately, not every team can go through to our Young Environmentalist Awards finals, but we are delighted to see such high numbers of young people entering and carrying out such innovative environmental action projects locally. It won’t be an easy job for our panel of judges, but I urge every team to pursue their projects and continue to enact change in their schools, youth groups and communities for the good of our planet.”