Picture Credit: Conor McCabe
Do you know an internet whizz kid? Have a computer coding genius on your hands?
The 2017 eir Junior Spider Awards is searching for the next Mark Zuckerberg and is open for entries from students and young adults across Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The awards, now in its eighth year, aims to capture the digital talent of students aged between four and 19 years of age and highlight how young Irish people embrace the internet in their daily lives. Similar to previous years, the awards are divided into three main categories, The Mega Spiders aimed at ages 4-12 years, the Giga Spiders aimed at ages 13-15 years and Tera Spiders aimed at ages 16-19 years. Each award category has a Grand Prix Award.
Commenting on eir’s involvement in the Awards, Jon Florsheim, Chief Commercial Officer at eir said
“The eir Junior Spider Awards continue to be a really exciting initiative that celebrate the most creative young minds and their individual pursuits throughout the year. The awards highlight how students embrace digital technology, while publicly marking the many innovative ways the youth of Ireland progress and adapt to the ever changing digital landscape. Every year, we at eir are blown away by the sophistication and skills these students possess and we are very much looking forward to seeing the next generation coming through this year’s awards.”
There are Awards in three different age grades with a variety of categories in each grade
Mega Spiders: 4-12 years
· Best Individual Project: Best Individual Project should be a website completed by one person and can be based on any subject matter.
· Best Group Project: Best Group Project should be a website completed by two or more people and can be based on any subject matter.
· Creative Web Coding: Creative Web coding should be a website or game hand-coded by an individual or a group. Please note if your project uses a template and is not hand coded you will be required to submit your entry into either Best Individual or Best Group Project as you do not meet the criteria for this category.
· Grand Prix: The Grand Prix winner is the overall winner in each age group, taken from the category winners.
Giga Spiders: 13-15 years
· Best Individual Project: Best Individual Project should be a website completed by one person and can be based on any subject matter.
· Best Group Project: Best Group Project should be a website completed by two or more people and can be based on any subject matter.
· Creative Web Coding: Creative Web coding should be a website or game coded by an individual or a group. Please note if your project uses a template and is not hand coded you will be required to submit your entry into either Best Individual or Best Group Project as you do not meet the criteria for this category.
· Best Concept: This can be a whole new idea or it can be a new way of showing information that already exists online. The website can be based on any area of interest from a hobby to a sport.
· Best Web Design: Best look and feel, with clear navigation, user friendly, with clever use of online tools/apps. The site can be based on any area of interest.
· Best Irish Website/ Suiomh is Fearr: The site must be in the Irish Language, with optional English translation. The site can be based on any content and can either be a blog or a website.
Grand Prix: The Grand Prix winner is the overall winner in each age group, taken from the category winners.
Tera Spiders: 16-19 years
· Best Individual Project: Best Individual Project should be a website completed by one person and can be based on any subject matter.
· Best Group Project: Best Group Project should be a website completed by two or more people and can be based on any subject matter.
· Creative Web Coding: Creative Web coding should be a website or game coded by an individual or a group. Please note if your project uses a template and is not hand coded you will be required to submit your entry into either Best Individual or Best Group Project as you do not meet the criteria for this category.
· Best Transition Year Project: Entrants must be in 4th year in school. Projects can be completed by an individual or by a group of two or more people.
· Best Digital Game: Use of your imagination, characters and a story for the game that allows the user enjoy an interactive experience that would appeal to their peers. Story, audio, artwork and character development will be a bonus.
· Best Web App: A web application that is fully developed and available to use. It should be user friendly, useful and innovative.
· Best Irish Website/Suiomh is Fearr: The site must be in the Irish Language, with optional English translation. The site can be based on any content and can either be a blog or a website.
· Best Web Design: Best look and feel, with clear navigation, user friendly, with clever use of online tools/apps. The site can be based on any area of interest.
· Best Concept: This can be a whole new idea or it can be a new way of showing information that already exists online. The website can be based on an area of school, hobby, sport or other interest.
For more information and further details on how to enter the 2017 eir Junior Spider Awards log onto www.juniorspiders.ie. The closing date for entries is March 8th.
You can connect with the eir Junior Spiders on Twitter (@juniorspiders) or on Facebook (Facebook.com/eirjuniorspiders)
The eir Junior Spider Awards are supported by eir StudyHub; a free online exam support tool for eir broadband customers with over 500 hours of audio and video tutorials from expert teachers, perfect for students preparing for their Junior and Leaving Cert exams. To see all of the benefits of eir Study Hub please see their website – https://www.eir.ie/studyhub/
The eir Junior Spider Awards are also supported by Foras na Gaeilge and CoderDojo. All of last years shortlisted winners from the eir Junior Spiders have also been invited to The Dublin Tech Summit which takes place this week at the Convention Centre.