Press Pass, our education initiative is now in its second year and this year, over 18,000 students in 300 schools nationwide are taking part.

During September 2013 registered schools were issued with national daily and Sunday newspapers plus their local regional papers.

In conjunction with the newspapers they received specially created guidebooks and links to video resources, which helped them to analyse newspaper content and create their own original journalism.

Classes were encouraged to use the materials throughout a ten week period in class and at home. The entire programme is provided to schools free of charge by NNI.

National Journalism Competition

At the heart of NNI Press Pass is a national journalism competition sponsored by the Irish League of Credit Unions. Schools are encouraged to submit the best work produced by their students during the Press Pass programme time. Entries are invited in the following categories: News; Features; Analysis/Opinion; Sports; and Photojournalism.

See additional information about the criteria for entry here. The deadline for entries is 18th December 2013.

Last year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented the winning students with their prizes at a national awards ceremony held in the Convention Centre, Dublin, which received widespread press coverage. The winners of this year’s NNI Press Pass journalism competition will be announced at a ceremony in Dublin in spring 2014.

You can read the winning work from last year’s competition here.

For further information or to register for next year’s Press Pass programme contact: Enda Buckley.