Monday 9th June 2014: Coding whizzkids came in their droves to DCU over the weekend to demo a dizzying array of cool and imaginative coding ideas at the CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards 2014 Ceremony. The top prizes were awarded to an eCar charger locator app, a Wild Western game, and Camera selfies, a website which allows you to share selfies at large events.

The Coolest Projects Awards, now in its third year, was an opportunity for members of local coding clubs or dojos to showcase the application of the skills and knowledge they have gained from attending their weekly coding sessions. The event, which has gone from strength to strength each year, saw 250 projects being presented on Saturday to an expert judging panel which included Silicon Republic’s Ann O’Dea, EU Code Week Ambassador Julie Cullen, and James Whelton of CoderDojo who found choosing the winners a difficult feat, "just seeing the kids so in their element brought it home the difference that coolest project makes to them, the projects just blew me away it was so hard to judge the winners as there was an incredible amount of great projects who were all raising the bar in terms of creativity’’.

This year, support from Liberty Global, parent company of UPC and the largest international cable company, allowed CoderDojo to increase the reach of the event to include projects from dojos in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania who were all in attendance at the event.

Speaking at the event, Magnus Ternsjö, CEO of UPC Ireland said, “UPC is immensely proud to be supporting this event which celebrates young coders creativity, projects and skills from Ireland and from other EU member states. Coding knowhow and experience is becoming an important skill for young people, whether for future jobs or as a basic literacy to understand the digital and technical tools and services which they use in life. In fact, coding can also be used as a gateway into higher level interest and understanding of computer science – a subject which is currently insufficiently understood and studied by young people across the EU – resulting in a skills gap of such a magnitude that it is hindering companies to progress as desired.

We at UPC and in particular our parent company, Liberty Global is working with Coder Dojo to raise awareness even further of coding during the EU Code Week in October which will provide another opportunity to highlight the importance of coding capability and knowhow.”

Co-founder of CoderDojo Bill Liao who opened the awards ceremony and delivered a lighting talk during the day, captured the day, "Generosity of spirit, that was the hallmark of yesterday's coolest projects which was so massive and so cool. I was particularly touched by the young author of an antibullying app who was intent on paying it forward through assisting others who suffer what she has suffered from. Very humbling.’’

Projects were ranked not only for the complexity and usability of the project but also for that essential 'cool' factor, similar to the one rule of CoderDojo: “Be cool!”. Prizes, provided by Coolest Projects founding partner Intel included a top of the range Fonepad, cameras and phones, were awarded across 6 categories:

Websites Category

Overall winner: Pulse of the People - interactive data visualisation, Cork Dojo

● Farm Recorder, Ciaran Flanagan Claremorris Coder Dojo

● Spot Ant (79)

● The Kids Studio, Lauren Boyle, Bray

 

App Category

Overall Winner: ESB eCar Charger, Niamh Scanlon, DCU

● Fix my Pothole App, John Ryan, Thurles Dojo

● Classroom Auction App, Ciara Hogan, CoderDojo Girls DCU

● Punchbag IT, Jeremy Rigney, Athlone Dojo

 

Other Category

Overall Winner: Camera Selfies, Harvey, Science Gallery

● Ardalet, Ciadhla Mulloy, Bray Dojo

● Project 126, Albert, Zambrów Dojo (Poland)

● Galileo Robot, Thomas Carrigan DCU Dojo,

 

Mix Category (HTML Games, Enterprise, & Advanced Languages)

Overall Winner: Web Based Responsive Design, Adam Barry, Malahide Dojo

● Alexis Ordinary Day, Team Pigasus - Luke Hamilton, Oisín Fitzgerald and Conor Bastible, Sligo Dojo

● CheetahSpoke Store, Ben Herbert,

● Clash of Empires, Adrian and Raul, Timisoara Dojo (Romania)

 

Scratch Category

Overall Winner: The Showdown Western Game, Gavin Athlone Dojo

● Anti Bullying Quiz, Kathleen Maughan, Deansrath Dojo

● Dyslexic games, Curran Brothers, Wimslow Dojo (UK)

● Percy Jackson Quiz, Ronan Cassidy, Athlone Dojo

 

Overall International Project

Useless Box, a mechanically programmed box, Ugo Baroncini, Bologna Dojo (Italy)

On Sunday, entrants also took part in workshops to help take their projects to the next level. Brown Bag Films, RTÉ Digital, strategic coach, Padraig Berry and communications consultant, Bernard Fennessy were all on hand to share insights and advice on the creative process, technical skills, business focus and presentation skills.

ENDS

About CoderDojo

CoderDojo is an open source, volunteer led movement orientated around running free coding clubs (Dojos) for young people between 5 - 17 years old. At a Dojo, young people learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and much more. Dojos are set up, run and taught by volunteers. Dojos make development and learning to code a fun, sociable and kick ass experience. As of March 2013 there were over 420 Dojos either actively running or in planning in 43 countries reaching over 15,000 children monthly. CoderDojo is supported by the Hello World Foundation, a charitable organisation set up by CoderDojo co-founder James Whelton to scale and support the movement on a global level.

To join your local CoderDojo, you can find your nearest one from this list. If there is not a CoderDojo near you, would you be interested in setting one up? For more information check out http://coolestprojects.org, http://coderdojo.com and www.hwf.io.