Louth students urged to enter AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards

Applications for the AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards 2024/2025 are now open, with post-primary students in Louth encouraged to enter their school to be in with a chance of winning the top prize of €10,000.

The AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards recognises and rewards schools’ contribution to their community.

The AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards centres on three key pillars of activity: Environmental, Social, and Financial. These pillars encompass a wide range of activities that contribute to the betterment of communities, including volunteering, fundraising, awareness campaigns, mentoring, peer education, skills-sharing, and environmental conservation.

Last year’s award programme – the inaugural year – received an impressive 123 submissions from 103 schools, from a broad spectrum of post primary schools spanning 22 counties.

Speaking about the AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards, Fiona Dunning, Head of Customer & Community at AIB said, "We were thrilled to see such a positive response to the inaugural AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards last year, and hope to build on that momentum as we open applications for this year’s programme.

"Young people in Ireland are known for being a great catalyst for change, and that social impact starts in the local community, so we are proud to offer this programme to give students a chance to get involved in initiatives that are close to their heart."

Trinity Comprehensive Ballymun in Dublin was announced in May as the winners of the 2023/2024 AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards, with the students winning €10,000 for their school.

The judging panel, made up of experts and professionals from AIB, charity and educational organisations, selected Trinity Comprehensive Ballymun as their winners, thanks to the more than 60 social and environmental projects undertaken during the school year including the ongoing Better Ballymun projects that will culminate in a day of action on Friday 14th March, 2025.

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Speaking about the programme, Frances Neary, Principal of Trinity Comprehensive Ballymun said, "The AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards was a brilliant programme to be involved in last year. The students found it not only educational, but hugely enjoyable as well – and being announced as the winners was a really exciting day for us all.

"It showed our students the different ways that you can make a difference in your local community, no matter how small, or what your interests are. We will be using the €10,000 to support our ongoing Better Ballymun projects, which have begun already and will culminate in a day of Action on Friday 14th March, 2025.  We will certainly be applying again this year, and I’d encourage everyone to get involved."

The competition is open to all post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland with students aged 12-19. All entries must be submitted by a teacher within the school. Schools may enter Individual students, a Small Group (2-34 students), or a Large Group (35+ students).

To register your school, contact the team at futuresparks@realnation.ie or on 01 522 4880 for assistance. More information on the AIB Future Sparks Programme can be found here