NewsBrands Ireland held their 6th annual Press Pass Awards Ceremony on the 26th of April where 16 TY school students were awarded for their original journalism. These 16 students were among  10,000 Transition Year students who took part in this year’s  NewsBrands Ireland Press Pass initiative, the largest number to date.

Richard Bruton T.D., Minister for Education and Skills, attended the ceremony and presented students with their awards. Speaking at the awards, which took place in Twitter Dublin, he said:

”I’m delighted to be here today to present these awards and I’d like to congratulate all the students being recognised. Initiatives such as Press Pass play an important role in developing literacy skills among our learners.  The press is absolutely crucial to any democratic society. By shining a light into dark corners and highlighting important issues, it performs a critical role. The Irish media has a long and distinguished history and it is vital that in the uncertain times ahead it has a long and strong future.”

NewsBrands Ireland Chairman, Vincent Crowley commented on how positive it was that participation in the Press Pass programme is growing every year.

“In challenging times for the newspaper industry, these student awards and our annual national Journalism Awards are a timely reminder of the importance of a free press in Ireland today. We are delighted with how much enthusiasm and awareness Press Pass has generated among a younger audience and are highly impressed with these future journalists being honored at  today’s ceremony.”

The audience, made up of shortlisted students, their teachers and families also heard from a panel of award-winning NewsBrands Ireland journalists: Ellen Coyne from The Times Ireland Edition, Jack Horgan-Jones from The Sunday Business Post, and Ciara Leahy from the Irish Farmers Journal, who discussed their passion for groundbreaking journalism and its importance in society today.

Since the Press Pass programme launched six years ago, approximately 80,000 students have benefited from it. The programme has had the full support of the Department of Education since it began. It seeks to improve literacy and critical thinking skills while helping students to develop a deeper understanding of news media and how it communicates with the world around them.

This year, Twitter Ireland came on board as a partner to the programme. Commenting on the partnership, Sinead McSweeney, MD of Twitter Ireland, said:

“Twitter is proud to support the mission of the Press Pass Programme: to encourage literacy and critical thinking skills while helping students to develop a deeper understanding of news media and how it communicates about the world around them. We are delighted to partner with NewsBrands on this competition. It rewards research, rigour, and analysis – qualities that the best journalists demonstrate when tracking stories on Twitter.”

For the duration of the Press pass programme, participating schools receive newspapers,   a specially created workbook, and a Teacher’s Lesson Plan, all free of charge. Students are encouraged to engage with the newspapers in the classroom, to analyse them and then to create their own original journalism, the best of which was entered into a national competition.

The winners were selected by a panel of newspaper editors and journalists, chaired by   Professor John Horgan, the former Press Ombudsman.

The overall winner of the 2017/2018 Press Pass awards was Síomha Ni hAinféin, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, An Daingean, while trophies were also awarded in five other categories: Features, Opinion, News, Sport and Photojournalism.

See the NewsBrands Ireland Press Pass 2017/2018 winners  Here

For further information about Press Pass:

Please contact Lisa Buckley: (087) 7779259 / lbuckley@newsbrands.ie