Tuesday, 16 November, 2021: Short science videos made by young Irish filmmakers were honoured at the ReelLIFE SCIENCE Video Competition Awards on Friday as part of Science Week 2021 and the Galway Science and Technology Festival.

The videos ranged from debunking the Five Second Rule to exploring The Digestive System, and from measuring The Weight of the World to finding a Home for Bees.

Almost 500 short science films were entered into the competition by over 3,000 science enthusiasts from 135 schools and youth groups in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Winning videos were selected by a panel of guest judges including NASA astronaut Colonel Greg Johnson, UCD Professor of Zoology Emma Teeling and the 2021 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition winner, Greg Tarr from Bandon Grammar School in Cork.

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A group of 18 fifth class students from Gaelscoil Riabhach in Loughrea, Co. Galway, along with their teacher Brian Ó Meacháin, won the €1000 first prize at Primary School level for their Irish language video ’An Córas Díleá (The Digestive System)’.

Primary school runners-up were Scoil Phádraig from Westport, Co. Mayo, while Scoil na nAingeal Naofa from Boyle, Co. Roscommon finished third.

Transition year students from Le Chéile Secondary School in Tyrellstown, Dublin 15, led by teacher Sean Creedon, claimed the Secondary School €1000 award, for their distinctive animated short ‘The Science of Colour Vision’.

Secondary school runners-up were Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ from Limerick, while Coláiste Ghobnait from Inis Oirr, Co. Galway were awarded third place. ‘Are Aliens Real?’ by Coláiste Muire, Ennis transition year students won best Science Song as voted by the public.

The Foróige Hub Castlebar, with support from youth worker Ruairi Kelly, won the €1000 Youth Organisation first prize for their video ‘A Home for Bees’. The Finglas Youth Resource Centre came second, while third place went to Adanna Okoye of the Eastside Youth Service Foróige, Galway.

Addressing the young filmmakers at the awards ceremony, Professor Emma Teeling, said: “It has been such a fantastic pleasure to view all of your videos – they’re wonderful! It really gives me hope for our future if the youth of Ireland are studying science and understanding science and producing these videos that can communicate science to the world.”

Speaking about ReelLIFE SCIENCE, Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, said: “I’d like to congratulate all the young people, teachers and youth workers from all over the country who submitted videos to ReelLIFE Science.

“SFI are delighted to support this initiative, which encourages young people to be creative and connect with science and technology. I hope you enjoyed the experience and will continue to take other opportunities to explore STEM.”

The ReelLIFE SCIENCE programme challenges young people in schools and youth groups around Ireland to engage with science and technology by producing short educational videos, while developing their communication and digital skills.

Since being launched in 2013 by Dr Enda O’Connell from the College of Science and Engineering in NUI Galway, and a team of volunteer scientists, this challenge has been met by more than 20,000 participants in over 600 schools and youth groups around Ireland.