Two sisters from St. Joseph’s College in Lucan have been announced as the winners of the Trend Micro 2013 What’s Your Story? competition, which promotes online safety among school goers around the world.
Judith and Tessy Ehiguese scooped the top prize of €3,000 for their winning video Internet Sensation to promote the positive aspects of the Internet for young people.
Hundreds of entries were received, from both individuals and schools across the country, that answered the question ‘what does the good side of the Internet look like?’
The unique thing about this competition is that it is peer led – young people become advocates of their own message in promoting the positive side of the Internet as all entries are posted for public viewing, shared online and rated as well as final judging by a panel of online safety experts and anti-bullying champions.
Now in its second year in Ireland, the competition had a record number of entries from schools and young people all over Ireland. The site recorded over 35,000 public views, ratings and comments about the entries. The competition, run by Trend Micro’s Internet Safety team in Cork, has received huge praise from Webwise, antibullyingcampaign.ie, Discover Science, SmarterFutures.ie as well as Suicide Aware, Facebook and other leading anti-cyber-bullying organisations in Ireland and also internationally.
Judith and Tessy’s entry has also been selected to represent Ireland in the European Award for Positive Content for Kids in Belgium later this month.
"The Internet is an amazing resource for young people and at Trend Micro we want to promote the positive side of the Internet, while also encouraging school children to learn about digital safety", said Avril Ronan, co-ordinator of the Internet Safety for Schools & Families programme, Trend Micro.
Simon Grehan of Webwise, the national body for promoting Safer Internet usage, is a judge and advocate of the competition, said: "It’s important that young people are given opportunities to demonstrate creativity, imagination, and problem solving through their use of digital technologies. The What’s Your Story competition is one of those rare opportunities for young people to demonstrate that the online world can be a great place where they can explore, play and express themselves while also gaining the skills for a digital world. I’m proud to support it."
Other winners chosen by the judging panel for their creativity, appropriateness and effectiveness, each winning €500 include:
• Age 8-11 Video: Caught Up in the Net by Eve Corbett, Co Tipperary
• Age 8-11 Poster: Having Fun on the Net by Niamh Cronin, Cork city
• Age 12-15 Video: Amazing Uses of the Internet by Patrician High School, Carrickmacross, Monaghan
• Age 12-15 Poster: Manga Magic by 6th class, Scoil Mhuire GNS, Lucan, Dublin
• Age 16+ Video: The Internet is Quitting by Loreto College, Cavan
• Age 16+ Poster: Bringing the World to you by Laura Groves, Co Dublin
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