The ReelLife Science team and Special Guest Judges are delighted to announce the inaugural ReelLife Science Schools Science Video Competition Winners.

SECONDARY SCHOOL WINNERS

In first place at Secondary school level, under the “Astrobiology” category, we have a stunning video called “Life in Space” created by the multi-talented St. Enda’s College Transition Year student Michael McAndrew, under the direction of Mr. Fahey and Mr. Conroy. This remarkable film combines a fantastic concept and animation style with an intelligent script, wonderful delivery and original score. The film describes the fascinating field of Astrobiology, encompassing the origin and future of life on earth and the search for extraterrestrial life in other “Goldilocks Zones”. The simple yet effective cartoon style could conceivably be used to explain a range of different scientific topics, and the ReelLife Science team can’t wait to see more of Michael’s excellent work. In Michael’s own words “it is very exciting what the future might bring us“.

This outstanding production proved a worthy winner of the inaugural ReelLife Science Secondary school competition. We hope Michael and his fellow Transition Year students in St. Enda’s College enjoy spending their €250 on promoting science and science communication.

In second place, under the “Stem Cells” category, we have a video produced by St. Mary’s College Second Year students Mark Gilligan, Josh Pyne, Alan Duggan and Shane Hastings and Leaving Certificate student Colm Barry, with the help of their teacher Mr. Carey. This well-acted and imaginative film sees two young “stem cells” who haven’t yet decided on a career path, meet their knowledgeable Careers Officer, who briefs them on the options available to multipotent, pluripotent and even induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

Both Special Guest Judge Professors Ceredig and Brand work in the field of Stem Cell Biology, as does ReelLife Science team member and REMEDI PhD student Dave Browe, and all three scientists were extremely impressed with the level of detail communicated in this short movie. The guys will receive over €150 worth of scientific equipment and resources for their school’s Science program.

In third place, under the category “The Environment”, we have a video about “Littering” made by Claregalway College First Year student Natasha Feery Byrne, under the guidance of her teacher Ms. Nolan. In the words of Special Guest Judge Prof. Rhodri Ceredig “the video has a very commendable and engaging cartoon style presentation, with a nice message“. Like ReelLife Science, Claregalway College is in its very first year of existence, but they have really engaged with the competition and we look forward to receiving more videos from them in the future! Natasha will receive over €100 worth of scientific equipment and resources for her school’s Science program.

PRIMARY SCHOOL WINNERS

In first place at Primary school level, under the “Habitats” category, we have a video as Gaeilge about Seed Dispersal called “Scaipeadh siolta i Rosmuc”. This memorable video was made by the 5th and 6th class students in Scoil Mhuire Rosmuc, under the direction of their teacher Ms. Ni Chonaola. The wonderfully produced video comes with an extremely impressive script, to which Ms. Ni Chonaola was kind enough to provide an English translation for non-Irish speakers. The students took a very specific topic in Seed Dispersal and Germination, and produced three very amusing and informative sketches demonstrating different methods of dispersal. Furthermore, they performed some experiments of their own on the various seeds they found, identifying the different traits associated with them, based on their method of dispersal. We hope the 5th and 6th class students in Scoil Mhuire Rosmuc enjoy spending their €250 on promoting science and science communication in their school.

In second place, under the “Keeping Healthy” category, we have a video about dealing with germs, featuring a catchy musical number called “Germ Busters”. The video was made by the students in Cloghans Hill National School, Tuam under the guidance of their teacher Ms. Mangan. This instructional video classifies the germs we are likely to meet on a daily basis, and shows us the benefits of handwashing and disinfection. The school runs a really informative blog about all of their activities, as well as a dedicated page for their wonderful garden, and a Twitter feed. Ms. Mangan will receive over €150 worth of scientific equipment and resources for their school’s Science program.

Finally, in third place, under the “Our Bodies” category, we have a video about our Five Senses, focusing on the sense of touch. The video was made by the Junior and Senior Infants class in Belmont National School, Milltown, with the help of their teacher Ms. McGrath. The video covers the topic extremely well, with wonderfully demonstrated examples of all our senses, as well as some lovely poems about our sense of touch. Like Cloghans Hill NS, the school runs a fantastic blog about all of their activities, including science and maths projects, school visits and tours, and have already featured their wonderful ReelLife Science video there! Ms. McGrath will receive over €100 worth of scientific equipment and resources for her school’s Science program.

Congratulations to all the winners and well done to everyone who took part!

If you liked these videos, please share them with your friends to show them how Science can be fun at any age!

The videos above will be shown to the general public at the Galway Science and Technology Festival exhibition on November 24th.

ReelLife Science is supported by the EXPLORE Innovation Initiative and the College of Science at NUI Galway, as well as the “I’m a Scientist…Get me out of here, Ireland” program. 

Additional prizes were kindly supplied by Lennox Educational and Medical Supply Company as well as Junior Scientist and ScienceSpin.com, in the form of annual subscriptions to their excellent Science magazines “Junior Scientist” and “Science Spin“.