Donegal student in finals of the All Ireland Wood Marketing Federation Award

NCAD student Kieran Molloy (finalist) from Ardara with Duncan Stewart,RTE personality and architect at the Wood Marketing Federation Award 2007

The presentation of the 2nd Annual Wood Marketing Federation (WMF) Awards for 3rd Level Students took place on Friday, 8 June, 2007, at the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise. The awards were presented by RTE television personality and architect, Duncan Stewart.
NCAD student Kieran Molloy, Ardara, was a finalist in the architecture category of the competition. His project was entitled ‘Redefining the Sauna’.
It was a great achievement for Kieran to reach the finals when taking into account that 194 projects were entered by students of engineering, architecture and design from third level institutions located in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, using wood as the main element of their final year project.
Nineteen teams were drawn for the finals from universities nationwide, including UCD, NUI Galway , NCAD, DIT, UL, Waterford Institute of Technology, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Queens University, Belfast and Upper Bann Institute.
Speaking at the awards, Duncan spoke of the high standard of entries which had been received. “The WMF has created a genuinely engaging competition using wood as the source, an indeed inspirational material. The entries for this year’s competition have raised the bar in terms of originality and creativity. I want to congratulate teachers and students for their ingenuity and hard work.”
In addition to Stewart, the two other judges were Gerard Murphy, Chairman of the WMF and Sean Wiley, formerly of Enterprise Ireland.
There were two phases to this competition. Regional finals were first held in the individual colleges, with the winners going forward to the national finals in Portlaoise. The students assembled at the start of the day and set up their presentation stands. Models were created by all teams and these were backed up by PowerPoint presentations, A1 posters and other supporting literature. The students were available for interview during the day, with the actual award ceremony taking place at 5pm.
The WMF instituted this award to promote the use of wood as a design and building material. Gerard Murphy of the WMF spoke at the finals and said: “We are overwhelmed by the volume of interest shown in this year’s awards and were impressed by the very high standards of all of the entries submitted.
“When we launched this Award last year such was the diversity of the entries that we divided the Awards into three distinct areas. It is reassuring to see such original projects, reflecting the increased popularity of wood as a beautiful, renewable and versatile material.
Congratulations to Kieran on his fine achievement!

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Moyne School of Highland Dance make History

Emma Dunne, Sollus, Adam Wray, Moyne and Chloe McElhinney, Moyne

Last Friday saw the very first Donegal Highland Dancing Competition with over forty participants competing, aged from four years to adults. The event took place in the Laghey Parish Hall watched by an appreciative crowd of proud parents, teachers and friends. The event made history as this was the first time such a competition was ever held in the Republic of Ireland.
Organising the event was a big step for the local group as they have only been in existence for two years and they had four of their dancers enter their first competition last August. Scott McElhinney, chairperson would like to thank James and Mandy Kee for all their help and advice, and Shelley Anne Campbell and Georgina Kee for their tutoring.
Thanks also to the major sponsors Ulster Scots Agency, to the local sponsors, to the judges, scrutineer, piper, stewards, the people who sponsored the Cups & Shields and to anyone who helped in any way.
The winners were as follows:
Beginners 7 and 8: Winner Sophie McFaul; 9-11: winner Evelyn McElhinney; 12+: Winner Sarah Ann McElhinney.
Novice: Winner Honor Nethery.
Intermediate: Winner Emma Rice; Premier 13 and Under: Winner Faye Adamson.
Premier 14-16: Jordan Hughes.
Premier adult: winner Michelle Burns.
Primary competitors were Pamela Wray, Moyne and Amy McElhinney, Moyne,Emma Dunne. Sollus; Adam Wray, Moyne, Choa McElhinney, Moyne who acquitted themsevles admirably on the day.