Tullamore CTC students win The Big Idea award
A team of students from the Tullamore Community Training Centre in Offaly have been awarded a major prize by Ireland’s national creative thinking programme The Big Idea.
Team HopOut from Tullamore Community Training Centre won the Youthreach & CTC Mental Health Award.
The entry proposed a community hub promoted by a drink’s coaster with a QR code to help support younger men with their mental health.
The Big Idea is delivered through the Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) and Transition Year (TY) programmes, as well as an expanded pilot Youthreach and Community Training Centre (CTC) programme. It was delivered across 22 counties this year, with a successful pilot programme trialled in Northern Ireland.
Team Community Cara from Borris Vocational School won the overall award having journeyed through the 14-week problem-solving programme, exploring the issue of hidden poverty and developing a solution with potential for real social impact. They developed an idea for an app to support people living in poverty in Ireland to help connect them with local support.
The winners were announced today (Friday, 12 May) at the end-of-year online Big Showcase for the multi-award-winning programme.
Students were tasked with working through the four Ds of the creative process – discover, define, develop and deliver - focusing on solutions for issues they identified as major stressors in their lives. These were mental health, climate change, hidden poverty, displaced people, and diversity and inclusion, all aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the help of hundreds of Big Idea mentors from a range of sectors, they develop a digital experience, product, service, space or place, or a tech solution to tackle that issue.
Tutor at Tullamore Community Training Centre Lynsey McCabe was also chosen for the Youthreach and CTC Creativity Champion award.
Founder and CEO of The Big Idea, Kim Mackenzie-Doyle says the winners were selected by judges based on the recognition and celebration of their journey through the creative Big Idea process, in addition to their innovative and inspiring ideas which have potential for real social impact.
“A massive congratulations to all of the students across the 22 counties who have journeyed through the 2023 programme. They have learned transformative creative skills and thanks to the help of our industry mentors, they can continue to think big and use creative thinking to solve problems and develop solutions – whether in life, college or work.”
The award-winning product designer who founded Ireland’s creative thinking programme, The Big Idea in 2021 says it is more than just an educational programme, “it’s a movement to elevate the national skill base and democratise the world’s most in-demand skill - creative thinking.”
Kim says the programme is brought to life by the Creativity Champions, teachers, staff, facilitators and coordinators who bring the Big Idea to life across classrooms and workshops across Ireland.
“They create a safe space for students and learners to experience creativity in action. They empower young people to find their voice and share their Big Ideas.”
Since the programme launched in 2021, it has already reached 6,500 learners, supported by over 750 industry mentors globally to help unlock valuable industry knowledge to help build the confidence and problem-solving skills of young people.
The winners, along with a selection of Big Ideas from the programme will go on to take part in a Big Idea accelerator in September. The Big Exhibition which includes every project submitted this year is now live at thebigidea.ie, where schools and mentors can also sign up for the next term.