Science Snaps Winners!

  • Science Snaps and Tyndall National Institute Logos

    CD's arranged in the shape of a wheel

    1st ‘Disc Wheel’ by Sean Hassett, 6th year
    student in Presentation College Headford, Galway.


    Light diffracted through water drops on a CD

    2nd ‘Disc Drip Diffraction’ by Nick Di Mascio,
    6th year in King's Hospital, Palmerstown.


    An electricity pylon seen from below

    1st ‘Pylon’ by Andrew Cole, 3rd year student
    in Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.


    A row of Wind Turbines in the distance

    2nd ‘The Road to the Future’ by Clare Keaveney
    Jimenez 2nd year student at Scoil Mhuire,
    Wellington Road, Cork City.

    The winners of Science Snaps, the national science photography competition,were announced on Monday 9th November. Science Snaps, run by Tyndall National Institute, UCC, is open to secondary school students nationwide.

    First prize in the senior cycle category went to Sean Hassett, a Leaving Cert student in Presentation College Headford, Galway for his outstanding photo ‘Disc Wheel’. He describes the image of a wheel made of compact discs as ‘two great inventions in one’. Sean has won a laptop generously sponsored by DELL.

    First prize in the junior cycle category went to Andrew Cole for his excellent photo ‘Pylon’ which he says represents how ‘electricity is an innovation that has changed our world in the last 100 years’. Andrew is a 3rd year student in Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin 16. Andrew won a Flip camcorder generously sponsored by CPL.

    Exhibitions of highly commended entries from the annual Science Snaps schools photography competition took place in the Science Gallery in Dublin and in Cork City Library during Science Week Nov 8th-15th 2009 and at the Discovery Exhibition in Cork City Hall Nov 14th-18th 2009. The competition and exhibitions are sponsored by Science Week, HP and the INSPIRE programme. INSPIRE (Integrated NanoScience Platform for Ireland) is a national nanoscience research consortium, enabled by the Higher Education Authority Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (2007-2011).

    The theme for the photo entries was the Science Week 2009 theme, Celebrating Creativity and Innovation. The theme challenged students to think about how innovations in science have shaped our world and to illustrate the creativity of science in our everyday lives. ‘The judges had a hard time choosing the winning photos due to the high standard entries’ says Aoife O’Donoghue, Tyndall’s Outreach Officer. ‘We had over 200 entries and the students came up with some very interesting and creative shots which they believe celebrate creativity and innovation’.

    A gallery of the photo entries can be seen at www.pix.ie/go/sciencesnaps

    Senior Cycle Category winners:

    1st ‘Disc Wheel’ by Sean Hassett, 6th year student in Presentation College Headford, Galway - laptop sponsored by DELL.

    2nd ‘Disc Drip Diffraction’ by Nick Di Mascio, 6th year in King's Hospital, Palmerstown – Photo printer sponsored by HP

    Junior Cycle category winners:

    1st ‘Pylon’ by Andrew Cole, 3rd year student in Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin 16 - Flip camcorder sponsored by CPL

    2nd ‘The Road to the Future’ by Clare Keaveney Jimenez 2nd year student at Scoil Mhuire, Wellington Road, Cork City – Photo printer sponsored by HP

    Science Snaps is run by Tyndall National Institute, UCC, Ireland’s largest research centre, specialising in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hardware. Tyndall has over 350 researchers, engineers, scientists, students and support staff focused on ICT research in a state-of the-art national research facility.