A team from St. Brendan's College, Killarney won a Young Social Innovators advocacy award for their ‘SEM for Inclusion’ project, which aims to raise awareness of and reduce exclusion faced by people with a disability.

High-impact social innovation projects by teams of young people from all over Ireland were among the winners at the Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards, which took place on Croke Park earlier this month.

The YSI awards celebrate excellence in youth-led social innovation.

Now in their 22nd year, this year’s national finals event was the first live, in-person Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards since 2019.

The awards ceremony was co-presented by broadcaster Zara King and former Hometown boyband member Dayl Cronin, in front of an audience of around 600 young people from secondary schools the length and breadth of the country.

“More than 5,000 young people from all over Ireland got involved in social innovation projects with Young Social Innovators in 2023,” said Roger Warnock, CEO OF Young Social Innovators.

“It was fantastic to be able to gather together in-person to celebrate at this year’s awards’ finals and I would like to congratulate the winning teams, including those from Kerry. I was blown away by these young people’s ideas, bravery and creativity. Their projects are proof that change is possible and that young people have the power to make a difference.”