Kingswood Krackers scoops up top award for playspace project

By Theo McDonald

THE Foróige Youth Citizenship Awards took place last Saturday, July 2, in the Citywest hotel and conference centre. The Kingwood Krackers group won the Silver Star award, with Amplifying Voices, Dominic’s Group, winning a Bronze Star.

The awards, which celebrate the achievements of young people in the community, had over 2,000 in attendance, with over 160 community enhancement projects exhibited and all 26 counties represented.

Sean Campbell, CEO of Foróige, said, “Community wellbeing was the clear winner when it came to driving forces behind this year’s projects. The vast majority of projects were built on a pride and passion in the community which bodes well for the future. It is inspiring to see what young people can achieve.

“We are extremely proud to be working with Aldi for the second year running on the Foróige Youth Citizenship Awards and seeing the numbers of young people and communities involved going from strength to strength.”

The event was opened by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, with 2FM’s Eoghan McDermott as MC. It also featured talks from disability rights campaigner Joanne O’Riordan and social media expert Darragh Doyle.

Music was provided by Keywest, and there was a giant indoor rock climbing, a snowboarding simulator, recording studio, miniature golf and a variety of other activities.

The young in attendance also got to learn about the amazing work of their peers, all of which is taking place throughout the country.

The two winners in the Citizenship Awards, Kingswood Krackers and Amplifying Voices, had a big impact on the community.

The Kingwood Krackers club in Tallaght dedicated their group to campaign for a playspace in the area for children and young people.

They contacted local primary schools and asked what the younger children would like to see in this playspace. Their findings were then collated and presented to the council.

The group’s research came up with the theme ‘Robinhood’ for the space, which would include slides, ziplines, benches and a water feature. The council have agreed to begin work on the playspace this summer with help from the group.

Other winners, Amplifying Voices, put forward a project to build a website for young people. The group realised there was a need for a youth-friendly website that contained information on services in their community.

The research project included surveying youth groups and speaking to local youth services about what type of information the website should contain.

They visited The Digital Hub to learn about the different skills they needed to develop so they could build the website themselves.

The website – vimeo.com/83851297 – is now launched and provides young people with a resource about services in their area. The group has plans to design another website in September with information for families and children.