YH Award Winners

Transition Year students delve into their history

The 2024 Young Historian awards were presented recently to Transition Year students in three Leitrim schools. The judges noted that the selection of winners is increasingly difficult given the high standard of many entries. Great credit goes to the teachers: Seamus Mullen at Ballinamore Community School (BCS); Matt McVeigh and Norma Comyns at Carrigallen Vocational School (CVS); and Brian Flannery at Lough Allen College (LAC).

Personal connection

The judges congratulated the students who connected personally with their story, were curious, interrogated their sources, and were able to tell their story well. Mary Conefrey noted that ‘the standard of submissions has grown year on year’. Seamus Mullen (BCS) noted how the students who got most from the programme were those with the curiosity and tenacity to delve deeper into their topic, and that the students ‘develop invaluable research and editing skills that are essential at third-level as well as senior cycle’.

Diverse topics

As can be seen from the list of winners, the topics were again wide-ranging. The overall winner and Best Leitrim History was Rose Gannon (BCS) for ‘Townland of Crummy Over The Last 200 Years’, which the judges said was insightful, comprehensive and well-structured, and serves as a template for researching townland histories. Best Early Modern and best non-Leitrim History was won by Unai Arechavaleta Zurita (CVS), for his creative animation of the story of the Spanish Armada in Ireland. The projects will be lodged in the Leitrim County Library Archives for future researchers.

AI

Presenting the awards in Ballinamore, Fiona Slevin said that they could see students beginning to use AI (LLMs). She told the audience that AI will change much for students and teachers and the future of work. She said ‘in a world where we can all generate right answers, the world will belong to the people who ask the right questions – and to those who can separate fact from fiction and communicate their story convincingly; in other words the skills of a historian’. As Brian Flannery (LAC) observed, 'this competition sharpens critical thinking and research skills, which fosters a deeper appreciation of the past'.

The Young Historian programme was initiated by Fiona Slevin and Natalie Fryde in 2021, and is supported by Leitrim County Library. All entrants received certificates, and all category winners received cash vouchers while the overall and school winners were presented with engraved Leitrim Crystal plaques – all sponsored by Leitrim County Library.