Creative Kildare student receives top award at coding competition

A student from Kildare received a top award at a coding competition.

The National Scratch Coding Competition was held at the University of Limerick, bringing together the top scoring teams from all over the country.

Scratch is a visual programming language that makes it easy for young people to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art – and share their creations on the web. Using Scratch allows students to develop creative and critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills as they work collaboratively or individually on Scratch projects.

School students aged six and up across five age categories were invited to demonstrate their Scratch projects to the judges.

Nabeel Salahuddin, a student from Confey College, Kildare took home one of the top prizes at this year’s Scratch Finals: he received the award for 1st Year to 3rd Year Category for his project 'The Adventures of Mr. Cube'.

Kildare group continues search for new premises in Naas or Newbridge areas

According to Clare McInerney, Lero’s EPE Programme Manager: "The standard for this year’s competition has been incredibly high, it was a very difficult task for our judges this year.

"I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone that took part in this year’s competition: the Scratch programme provides young students with real, hands-on coding experience and highlights how important it is our everyday lives."

Now in its twelfth year, the National Scratch Competition received 160 applicants for this year's competition from across the nation.

The event is run by the Irish Computer Society, the representative body for IT professionals in Ireland and Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software. Awards were provided by AWS In Communities, a programme of Amazon Web Services.

Commenting on the importance of the event, Frank Mockler, General Manager, Irish Computer Society, said: "Events like the national Scratch competition allow Ireland’s upcoming cohort of digital creators to demonstrate their critical thinking, their creativity, and their innovation.

Kildare school competes in All-Ireland "F1 in Schools" competition

"We need to make sure that young people see the value and potential of technology and learn to own and control it... Some of the participants today may go on to be the IT professionals of tomorrow – but even if they don’t, we hope that taking part has helped them develop new skills and become empowered digital citizens.

"Congratulations not just to all the winners today, but to everyone who took part," he added.

The winners in their respective categories are listed as follows:

• Agnes Martin, St Joseph’s College, Lucan, Co. Dublin, won the top prize as Overall Winner for their entry ‘Believe’ at the National Scratch Coding Competition
• Best Animation: ‘Farm Safety’, Colaiste Chiarain, Ballinamona, Co. Limerick
• Best Technical Sophistication: ‘Contrast’, Hughie McShane & Joseph McCallig, Abbey Vocational School, Donegal.
• Best Educational Content: ‘Welcome to my home: Beautiful Croatia’, Vita Marohnic, Abbey Community College, Waterford.
• Best Social Project: ‘Food Chain Game’, Freya Tollett and Eloise Devine, St. Annins National School, Galway.
• Special Achievement: ‘Fish Tap’, Leah O Sullivan, Banogue N.S., Croom, Co. Limerick
• Judges Award: ‘Unknown Tourist Attractions’, Claire Foyle, Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty, Co. Cork.
• Judges Award: ‘Scratch Calculator’, Adam Carroll, Kilglass NS, Galway
• Judges Award: ‘Click the Watermelon’, Martin O’Driscoll, Banogue N.S., Croom, Co. Limerick
• Junior infants to 1st Class Category: ‘March JH’, Jack Hogan, Feakle National School, Clare.
• 2nd Class to 4th Class Category: ‘Two Player Maze Game’, Adiel Mickus, Ennis Coder Dojo, Clare.
• 5th Class to 6th Class Category: ‘Sensory Scratch’, Polly Butler, Club Mazikeen, Wicklow.
• 1st Year to 3rd Year Category: ‘The Adventures of Mr. Cube’, Nabeel Salahuddin, Confey College, Kildare.
• 4th Year to 6th Year Category: ‘Lieutenant Leek’, Ciara Clerkin, Largy College, Clonea, Co. Monaghan.

Local History: The final farewell to the British army in Kildare

Historian James Durney examines the evacuation of the British army from Kildare on May 16, 1922

Visit Scratch.ie for more information about scratch and the Scratch competition.