The wait is over! The shortlisted entries for the Media Literacy Ireland Awards 2026 have been announced. With a record number of entries this year, it was not an easy task, especially given the high calibre of the entries. Listed in alphabetical order, the shortlisted entries are as follows.
A project by the Creative Digital Media Institute
The Creative Media Passport (CMP) is a credit-rated, digital media course that aims to turn teenagers from passive consumers of media into confident, critical creators of it. Developed by the Creative Digital Media Institute (CDMI) in collaboration with Learnovate and an Advisory Board of Transition Year Coordinators, it is aimed at Transition Year students across the Republic of Ireland, and at secondary students in Scotland.
A project by Céire O’Donoghue
KidCast is a podcast series created by young people, for young people. Designed as a national podcasting and media literacy initiative for senior primary school pupils, aged 9–12 years, it transforms primary school classes into media production teams and their classrooms into recording studios. The programme also supports teachers by developing their confidence and capacity to develop podcasting and media literacy in the classroom.
A project by News Mag Media in partnership with Coimisiún na Meán
Media Matters is a ten-module media literacy series for Irish primary school students which aims to give students a working understanding of how media is made, funded, owned and regulated. It also makes Ireland’s regulatory framework accessible to young people, so that they know their rights under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act and the Digital Services Act.
A project by UCD Centre for Cyber Resilience Education (Cyberwise)
SECURE (Strengthening Education for Cybersecurity – Uniting Resilience and Expertise) is a Research Ireland COALESCE-funded initiative led by Cyberwise at the UCD School of Education. Working with 30 primary schools across Ireland, SECURE was developed to explore how cybersecurity and digital resilience could become part of everyday classroom learning, while helping children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to navigate an increasingly complex digital world.
A project by DCU Anti-Bullying Centre in collaboration with Vodafone Foundation Ireland and Childline by ISPCC
Tozi is an app that helps children and young teenagers, particularly those aged 11 to 14 build the knowledge, critical awareness and practical skills they need to make informed decisions online, recognise and respond to potential risks, and engage with digital technologies in ways that support their safety and wellbeing. Its approach recognises that digital safety and wellbeing cannot be achieved through restriction alone.
Age-Friendly AI
A project by TU Dublin and the ADAPT Centre’s Education and Public Engagement team at DCU
Funded by Research Ireland, Age-Friendly AI is Ireland’s national AI literacy initiative for older adults. Through open public dialogue and co-created AI literacy training, the initiative aims to deepen older people’s understanding of AI’s role in their everyday lives, build their confidence to participate in public discourse on AI, ensure their voice on AI-related issues is genuinely heard, and raise awareness among the public, researchers and policymakers of AI’s potential to both foster and hinder digital inclusion of older people.
A project by Friends of the Elderly and Maynooth University’s Academy for Good
This three-day programme was designed for older people in Ireland who feel excluded from or lack confidence engaging with digital technologies. Participants learned about data-driven decision-making, how to identify bias in datasets and the relationship between data science and Artificial Intelligence. They then explored AI applications, machine learning, AI text models, prompt engineering and AI ethics.
A project by Iteration Ltd
Funded through Adult Literacy for Life as “Bridging the Gap: Assistive AI for Literacy”, set out to reach older and disadvantaged adults in County Tipperary whom conventional provision misses. It was designed to enable people aged 65 and over to use the smartphone already in their pocket to find, question and verify everyday information about food, shopping, transport, health and public services.
A project by Munster Technological University, Cork
The Cyber Safety Project aims to create accessible, inclusive, and tailored support and resources that empower older adults to navigate today’s digital world safely, confidently, and independently. The project combines education, research, and local support to bridge the digital divide and create a more cyber safe Ireland. The initiative takes a user-centred, co-design approach, recognising that effective cyber safety education must reflect the needs, experiences, abilities, and learning preferences of older adults.
A project by Kildare Libraries
Media Minded was created in collaboration with KWETB and Adult Literacy For Life to help older adults navigate the digital world with confidence. It consisted of presentations and a roaming book display which was shared across multiple libraries in Kildare. The initiative explored digital literacy, online safety, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and awareness of scams. Designed to inform, not alarm, it offered practical tools and trustworthy resources and included access to a WhatsApp Fact or Fake quiz.
A project by AONTAS
The Community Education Against Disinformation (CEAD) initiative was developed in response to the growing impact of online disinformation on communities. Funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, CEAD it aims to build the educational capacity of adult and community education practitioners to address disinformation in the learning space, and to foster changes in learners’ understanding of how disinformation impacts affected communities.
A project by Rehab Group
Funded through the Rethink Ireland Hi Digital Fund, Digital Bridges is a nationwide digital training programme for older adults with intellectual disabilities. It was developed by Rehab Group to increase participants’ digital confidence, media literacy, online safety awareness and practical digital skills through structured, evidence-informed learning experiences.
A project by County Kildare LEADER Partnership
Developed to reduce community tension around migration and International Protection Applicants, counter misinformation, and strengthen local integration infrastructure, these Misinformation Workshops are designed were designed by the Community Link Worker as an interactive space that encourages dialogue, critical thinking and open discussion. They are delivered to community groups across County Kildare, equipping community members with the skills to recognise and respond to misinformation and promote informed engagement.
A project by Community Connections Project in East Cork
Our Voice is a ‘by community for community’ local community radio project led by podcasters, people seeking international protection living at the Youghal Accommodation Centre, East Cork. The focus of the Our Voice project is enabling people who are marginalized in the community to participate fully in media content creation, and develop media literacy skills and the ability to share their stories, insights and opinions safely.
A project by Meath County Council Library Service
This is an inclusive reading and creativity programme for young adults in their twenties with Down Syndrome. Co-designed with participants and Down Syndrome Ireland, it was created to empower participants with practical media literacy skills while increasing confidence, communication, self-expression and social participation. The project also aims to help them understand how media is created, edited and shared, while developing the skills needed to engage with media messages and become creators of content themselves.
A project by Near FM
Mad About Media is a five-part media-literacy radio and podcast series created by Near FM with four media students from FET College Dhúlaigh. Its aim was to help the students and their cohort – and the wider public audience reached through community radio and podcasting – understand how media attract attention, shape belief, distribute power and influence behaviour, while giving the students practical experience of researching, questioning and creating media themselves.
A project by Radio Kerry
The Youth Voice Series is a joint collaboration between Radio Kerry, Kerry ETB, Tusla, Jigsaw and KCYS. It is designed to provide young people with direct access to professional media production, broadcasting facilities and experienced tutors to help them develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand, create and participate in media. The project also encourages young people to recognise the importance of reliable information, question what they encounter and use media responsibly as a tool for communication and civic engagement.
A project by Virgin Media News
Truth Matters was established to empower audiences with the knowledge and critical-thinking skills needed to make informed decisions about the media they consume and share, and better understand the information environment. Delivered via Virgin Media Television, Virgin Media News digital platforms and social media channels, it delivers media literacy content wherever the audience gets their news, with a particular focus on helping people navigate an increasingly complex digital information environment.
A project by Flirt FM and University of Galway
Sounds Class! is a 6-week Youth Academy course designed to help 4th-6th class students in the West of Ireland move from passive consumption of media to the analysis and creation of media. At the end of each Youth Academy, participants will have created up to 2 hours of radio, broadcast on Flirt FM 101.3.
A project by Nerve Centre
Nerve Centre, commissioned by Ofcom, created a free, Northern Ireland-wide programme to help children and young people question, verify, create and share media more confidently and responsibly. The programme aimed to strengthen critical thinking; distinguish fact from opinion; build practical fact-checking habits; deepen understanding of artificial intelligence, algorithms and online influence; and develop responsible digital citizenship.
A project by Spunout
Safer Conversations Online is a multi-platform online initiative designed to help young people safely consume, create, evaluate, and interact with online content relating to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The initiative combines an omni-platform social media awareness campaign and a free self-directed e-learning course that provides young people with a toolkit of practical skills for engaging safely with online content relating to sensitive mental health topics.
A project by Createschool
The Rubbish Film Festival is a national media literacy initiative that empowers young people to research, create and share their own films about the issues shaping their world. The festival’s central aim is to build media literacy through creation. Students across the island of Ireland, primarily Transition Year (ages 15–16), together with their teachers are guided through the full production process — from idea generation, research and scripting to filming, editing, sound and public screening.
A project by NewsBrands Ireland
Young Journalist Ireland is a national Student Journalism and News Literacy Programme for Transition Year secondary school students. It uses the tools and principles of journalism to develop media literacy, critical thinking, communication skills and civic awareness. Its aim is to empower young people to become informed, confident and responsible consumers and creators of media, equipped to navigate an increasingly complex information environment.
A project by An Taisce Environmental Education Unit
Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is an environmental education programme that empowers young people (typically ages 11–18) to investigate local environmental issues, research practical solutions, and communicate their findings through journalistic media such as articles, photographs, videos, and podcasts. The programme encourages young people to actively explore real-world environmental issues through inquiry and collaboration and take the lead in identifying a problem, investigating its causes and impacts, and developing solutions.
A project by Foróige and the South Leitrim Youth and Family Support Service
As part of the local roll-out in South Leitrim of the national Connect Safely programme, a significant rise in Catfishing amongst the target audience of 12–18-year-olds was observed. Putting their digital citizenship and media literacy skills into action, the South Leitrim group designed and produced a fully youth-led video exploring the realities of online catfishing. From scripting to acting, this creative project empowered the young people to become digital peer-educators, translating abstract media safety concepts into a highly relatable local resource.
A project by Fardus Sultan
Digital Playgrounds is an original Irish doctoral research project, generating new evidence on how Irish tweens (9–12-year-olds) understand, critically evaluate and create social media content while navigating social media platforms and content created by social media content creators and influencers. Its overarching aim was to generate evidence that can strengthen children’s media literacy and inform how parents, educators, policymakers and other stakeholders support young people to make informed choices about media content and services.
A project by Munster Technological University
This Open Educational Resource for Digital Media Literacy was designed for approx. 3000 – 4000 incoming students each year at Munster Technological University. Embedded in the MTU library platform and co-designed with students, it offers an accessible programme on thinking critically about media and technology including bias, algorithms, and well-being. It has been adapted for the Higher Education Authority Open Courses initiative, making it available for all 18 higher, over 450 further education institutions in Ireland.
A project by Solar Ireland
Solar Ireland’s Media Literacy Initiative was developed to strengthen public confidence in the information surrounding Ireland’s energy transition by helping people become more critical, informed and confident consumers of media. The initiative takes a proactive, educational approach, equipping audiences with practical skills to evaluate energy-related information regardless of where it comes from or who is sharing it.
A project by University College Cork
Deepfake/Real Harms is an evidence-based media literacy intervention specifically designed to reduce engagement with non-consensual deepfake abuse imagery. The project combined media literacy, AI literacy, empathy-building, and behaviour-change techniques to produce a publicly available free, online educational toolkit to reduce engagement with deepfake abuse imagery. The website has myth-busting resources, educational materials, and links to support services. It was supported by a large-scale media campaign to promote the intervention across Irish radio and print news.
Well done again to all the shortlisted entries!
The winners will be announced at our invitation-only Media Literacy Ireland Awards event kindly hosted by Virgin Media on Wednesday, 11 November.