Two Offaly TUS students up for Digital Student of the Year award
Two Offaly students from Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Athlone have been nominated for the Digital Student of the Year award at this year's Digital Media Awards (DMA).
Avril Donegan of Clonbullogue and Michal Olejnik of Edenderry, are among a total of four students from TUS Athlone to be nominated out of a category of 10.
Avril, a 4th year BBs (Hons) student in Digital Marketing, developed and implemented a digital marketing strategy for Midlands 103 radio as part of her coursework. Her project focused on growing the station's Instagram and TikTok following to boost advertising investment on these platforms, developing a podcast series to better engage a younger demographic, and improving Midlands 103's existing SEO strategy.
For his project for the same course, Michal developed and implemented a digital marketing strategy for medical device service company Medana Healthcare, which looked at leveraging digital tools, such as social media, web and email marketing, to increase Medana’s brand awareness and online visibility with the aim of enhancing customer engagement and driving sales.
The other TUS Athlone nominees include Siofra Hannon from Athlone and Yingxin Li, an international student, both MSc in Digital Marketing students.
This year’s nominations continue a strong trend for TUS, as its campuses have produced the Digital Student of the Year winner for the past three years.
Another win this year would mark the fourth consecutive title for the university, further solidifying TUS’s reputation as a leader in digital marketing education.
“These nominations highlight the talent and hard work of our students and reflect the strength of our digital marketing courses,” explained Dr Alison Sheridan, Head of Department of Business & Management at TUS Athlone.
“With guidance from our award-winning faculty, our students have demonstrated exceptional skills in areas like digital strategy, SEO, social media, content strategy, and analytics and applied innovative strategies to real-world challenges, preparing them for careers in the digital marketing industry.”
MSc in Digital Marketing and Analytics Programme Co-ordinator Rachel Walsh added, “We are immensely proud of our students’ accomplishments. Their work demonstrates not only their understanding of digital marketing but also their ability to apply this knowledge in real-world settings. It is wonderful to see our students stand out among the top talent, reflecting their hard work and the high quality of education at TUS.”
The Digital Student of the Year award recognises students who excel in understanding and applying digital media in business.
It is open to students from all educational levels across Ireland and is judged by a panel of industry experts.
The winner will be announced on September 6 at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin, during an awards ceremony bringing together top talent in Ireland’s digital media industry.
Other nominees in the Digital Student of the Year category include Shruti Nadagouda, Clodagh Henderson and David Woods from TUS Moylish, Clodagh Hennessy from University College Cork, Caoimhe Lally from University of Limerick, and Lauren Harnett, Granite Digital.