This year’s ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards were a huge success. With over 200 projects and 4,000 young people competing for a place in the 2012 shortlist, it was by far the biggest – and toughest – Young Environmentalist Awards yet.

60 projects were selected for the final shortlist and over 600 young people from all over the island of Ireland displayed their projects on 8th May in the Mansion House, Dublin.

The Overall Senior Winners were Wormery Works Group from St Joseph’s Summerhill, Athlone. The Overall Junior Winners were the Big Tidy Up Group from Our Ladys & St. Patrick’s College, Belfast.

CAPTION:

Wormery Works Group from St Josephs Summerhill, Athlone with Elaine Nevin, national director of ECO-UNESCO, and Duncan Stewart, ECO-Eye Productions.

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.

ECO-UNESCO has launched this year’s Dublin city centre environmental summer camp ‘ECO-Explorers’ to take place in July and August 2011. Using environmental hub The Greenhouse, Dublin 2, as a base from which to explore nature in the heart of the city, ECO-Explorers – ECO-UNESCO’s Summer Camp for Children – is an environmental summer camp with a difference, providing a safe environment for children to discover the natural treasures of Dublin City centre.

The Camp is run by ECO-UNESCO, Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, which has over 25 years experience working with children and young people raising environmental awareness in a fun, interactive and creative way. ECO-UNESCO’s staff are fully qualified in all areas of environmental education.

Children explore and learn about nature and the world around them through outdoor adventures, interactive games, hands-on activities and much more. Taking a city centre safari and treasure trail, building a bug hotel, starting a sunflower race and even launching an ECO-Rocket are some of the activities young people taking part can look forward to whilst learning about their environment and nature and having lots of fun.

For further information contact ECO-UNESCO’s Environmental Youth Officer on Tel 01 662 5491, E-mail youth@ecounesco.ie or visit www.ecounesco.ie.

Toyota Ireland will fund some of Ireland’s up and coming young environmentalists through the awarding of €10,000 in seed grants to ECO-UNESCO’s clubs across Ireland. ECO-UNESCO is Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation and its clubs provide an outlet for young people to come together and help the environment and their local communities in a fun and meaningful way. 

Toyota will award grants to ten chosen ECO-UNESCO clubs participating in its ‘Clubs in Action’ programme. The grants which range from €250 for a Bronze Seed Grant up to €1,000 for a Gold Seed Grant, will be used to implement important environmental activities including energy saving, recycling, eco-transport, local clean-ups, tree planting and other environmental awareness raising activities. The grant giving will be further complemented by the involvement and guidance of staff from Toyota dealerships across the country, many of whom are being trained as ECO-Leaders by ECO-UNESCO.

ECO-UNESCO’s ‘Clubs in Action’ initiative is supported on a European level by the Toyota Fund for Europe, which grants financial support to local projects that have the potential to have a positive impact on the local environment and society. As a key partner, Toyota Ireland also sponsors the ECO-UNESCO Club of the Year Award, and has provided an eco-friendly Toyota Prius to the organisation.

ECO-UNESCO has launched Dublin city centre’s first environmental summer camp ‘ECO-Explorers’ to take place between August 9th to 13th. Using new environmental hub The Greenhouse, Dublin 2, as a base from which to explore nature in the heart of the city, ECO-UNESCO’s Summer Camp for Children is an environmental summer camp with a difference, providing a safe environment for children to discover the natural treasures of Dublin city centre.

The Camp is run by ECO-UNESCO, Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, which has over 25 years experience working with children and young people raising environmental awareness in a fun, interactive and creative way. ECO-UNESCO’s staff¬ are fully qualified in all areas of environmental education.

Children explore and learn about nature and the world around them through outdoor adventures, interactive games, hands-on activities and much more. Taking a city centre safari and treasure trail, building a bug hotel, starting a sunflower race and even launching an ECO-Rocket are some of the activities young people taking part can look forward to whilst learning about their environment and nature and having lots of fun!

ECO-UNESCO is taking bookings now with an Early Bird price of Eur90 for bookings made before Friday July 23rd. Simply contact ECO-UNESCO’s Environmental Youth Officer, Colin on Tel 01 662 5491 e-mail youth@ecounesco.ie or visit www.ecounesco.ie.