Young people from across Ireland will be honoured at the 13th annual ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards Showcase and Ceremony attended by over 600 young people, on May 8th at the Round Room, adjacent to the Mansion House, Dublin.
ECO-UNESCO is inviting the public to come and meet the 60 lucky groups selected for the finals from almost 4,000 young people throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland at regional ‘Dragon’s Den’ style ECO-Dens. Each group will showcase elements of their environmental action projects ranging from recycled fashion to research on fracking, original and inspiring environmental songs and even a pedal powered smoothie makers; it’s all covered by this year’s talented group of Young Environmentalists.
“We are extremely impressed by all the young environmentalists participating in this year’s awards programme,” says Elaine Nevin, national director of ECO-UNESCO. “All of the young people attending show tremendous creativity and innovation in their approach to protecting the environment and promoting environmental awareness among their peers, their schools and youth groups and the community as a whole.”
The public is invited to the view the shortlisted projects at the Gala Showcase in the Mansion House from 10.00am–1.30 pm which will be officially opened by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague. The Young Environmentalists will be present amongst their colourful displays to share details about their ECO-Action projects, ECO-UNESCO will host exciting green-themed activities including creative recycling workshops, the Bio-Zone and the Rio+20 Zone. Visitors will also be entertained by an ECO-Talent Show with inspiring youth performances.
Later that afternoon, Ireland’s greenest teens will be honoured at a special awards ceremony hosted by young RTÉ presenter, Stephen Byrne where the overall winners and special category winners of the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards 2012 will be announced.
The annual awards programme run by ECO-UNESCO, Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, recognises and rewards young people that carry out local environmental action projects. The programme has provided thousands of young people, aged 10 -18, an opportunity to take action and raise awareness in their own community on issues that matter the most to them.