The Winners of the 2025 Media Literacy Ireland Awards
The winners of the 2025 Media Literacy Ireland Awards were announced on 6 October at an exciting awards event, kindly hosted by Virgin Media Studios.
Best General Media Literacy Initiative
AI was a prominent theme across this category, reflecting how media literacy interventions are responding to the needs of citizens. The shortlisted projects demonstrated good accessibility, as well as creativity and widespread engagement. Collaboration was also a strong theme across the projects shortlisted in this category.
The winner of the Best General Media Literacy Initiative was …
#DISCUSS AI by the ADAPT Centre
This project received strong praise for its inclusive, well-researched, and collaborative approach to AI literacy. Designed with accessibility in mind and grounded in national strategy, the initiative stood out for its robust design, interdisciplinary methods, and meaningful stakeholder engagement.
The judges highlighted the project’s wide reach and its ability to connect with diverse audiences across different age groups and demographics. The use of plain English, free access, and co-creation with participants were noted.
The judges loved how the project blended science with art, as well as its community focus. The project’s interdisciplinary and creative approach was applauded, especially its imaginative public-facing elements like its art exhibition.
The cross-sector collaboration and policy alignment further strengthened the project’s innovative positioning.
The project’s comprehensive and adaptive evaluation methods, which included external review and tailoring to different learner needs was an excellent example of research and evaluation, with methods adapted for different learners.
Best Media-Led Media Literacy Initiative
Across this category, the shortlisted projects were praised for their reach and engagement. Collaboration was also a strong theme, as was the theme of creating really impactful content that responded to audience needs.
The winner of the Best Media-Led Media Literacy Initiative was …
Young Journalist Ireland by the NewsBrands Ireland
This was described as a ‘bullseye’ media literacy project by the judges. They felt it was an excellent initiative, with clear evidence to suggest that it has been adopted successfully by many classrooms across the country.
The scale was substantial, with ten thousand participants in four hundred schools this year alone.
It clearly achieves its goal of empowering young people to create and innovate, and promotes learning and understanding by doing. This initiative champions entries from all backgrounds and abilities, and promotes inclusion by providing special access for schools with added diversity and for schools in lower-income communities.
At the heart of the project is the production of media materials and empowerment of students through the development of media content creation skills.
The adoption of CPD workshops, in-class newsrooms and expert speakers shows that the project goes above and beyond teaching the basics, and has the potential to encourage some students to go on to study journalism.
The use of professional journalists in this project shows that it can connect the industry with the classroom, and with real-world examples.
It has established a detailed evaluation framework at different stages of its execution, and the evidence shows that the feedback is used to refine the project as it evolves year on year.
Best Media Literacy Initiative for Young People
This was the most competitive category with 15 entries. The extremely high calibre of the entries made the shortlisting a challenging process. In the end, five projects were shortlisted.
The winner of the Media Literacy Initiative for Young People was …
Algowatch by Aphra Kerr, UCD and the ADAPT Centre, in collaboration with Savoir Devenir, Maynooth University, Association for Communication and Media Culture-DKMK, and Iscte University Institute of Lisbon
Given the importance of the topics of algorithms, AI and disinformation in the current media landscape, the judges felt this was a particularly timely and relevant project.
This project was also steeped in collaboration, both national and international, and its gender balance and thematic approach were noted as particular strengths.
Judges noted that this initiative stood out for its novelty, reach and depth.
The use of AI workshops and international collaboration made the project both relevant and impactful, and it was praised for tackling the urgent issue of disinformation.
The judges felt that the approach and delivery of the project was innovative and really empowered young people with media literacy skills.
Best Media Literacy Initiative for Older People
This was another very competitive category with all the projects scoring very highly in areas of empowerment and impact. The collaborative nature of media literacy projects was also on full display across these projects.
The winner of the Media Literacy Initiative for Older People was …
Hi Digital by the Vodafone Foundation, in partnership with ALONE and the Irish Girl Guides
The judges thought that this was a superb, highly impactful initiative. It successfully empowered older people with essential digital and media literacy skills, while fostering confidence, independence and social connection.
Its blended approach ensured accessibility and relevance for diverse learners.
Collaboration was a key strength of this project. The partnerships between Vodafone Foundation, ALONE and Active Retirement Ireland, alongside community-based delivery, make it both scalable and deeply rooted in local needs. The intergenerational connection with the Irish Girl Guides was considered innovative and beneficial for building social cohesion, understanding and trust.
Judges also noted that the inclusive and considered nature of the initiative really tried to meet people where they were.
Best Community-Based Media Literacy Initiative
The quality of entries, as well as the diversity of projects was notable in this category. The impact of all the shortlisted projects was particularly impressive, demonstrating the importance of community when it comes to delivering media literacy.
The winner of the Best Community-Based Media Literacy Initiative was …
Podcasting and Mobile Filmmaking Projects Inspiring the Travelling Community by Kinia
The judges commended this programme for its deep community focus, and felt it was a model for best practice. They praised it as ‘powerful and culturally important project, rooted in community needs and partnership’.
By providing free training, equipment access and bilingual support, the initiative removed barriers to participation while empowering young people to create their own podcasts and films, making this an inclusive, empowering and transformative project.
The learner-led podcasts were seen as a strong outcome that gives participants ownership of their stories and a platform to challenge stereotypes.
Highly Commended Awards
As the judging took place, the judges felt strongly that a small number of projects deserved special recognition in the form of a Highly Commended award.
In some cases, these projects were very, very close to the category winner, but not in all cases, so it is important to note that these are not ‘second place’ awards, but an acknowledgement of the project having something special, something unique, that makes it stand out.
The recipients of the 2025 Media Literacy Ireland Highly Commended awards were …
A Parent’s Guide to Social Media by Trina Mara and Eoin Glackin from Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio
The judges felt this project produced very strong and engaging content that was likely to empower a large group of people and provide support to them, in a more passive and unexpected way.
Collaboration was a strong theme in this project, with many different voices, topics and spokespeople involved. Delivered through the medium of radio over an impressive 26 episodes, this project represents a well-researched and considered approach to managing a potentially challenging topic on daytime radio.
Creative Media Passport by Createschool
This is a project that has developed an impressive flexible, self-paced learning framework, which makes learning both meaningful and accessible.
The judges thought this was a highly credible and well-structured initiative that connects digital citizenship with ethics, offering young people a flexible and engaging way to explore media literacy.
The connection between content and ethics was praised, as well as the use of Irish voices.
Smart Cafe by SICAP and Louth Local Development
The judges fell in love with the warmth and connectedness of this project. They felt it excelled in combining accessibility, community engagement and peer-led learning to meaningfully empower older adults to develop their media literacy skills.
The judges admired the innovation of the formal and informal class structures, which kept social connections going and embraced older people who may be underserved by similar programmes. This project could be a model for sustainable media literacy projects and has the potential to be replicated across the country.
The intimacy and intentionality in the planning of this initiative really impressed the judges, and demonstrated great care for the community in which the project was embedded.
Storytelling and Creative Media project by Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB
This resonated strongly with the judging panel because of its inclusive, heartfelt and practical approach to media literacy.
Its design supported lifelong learning and demonstrated flexibility in how it engaged participants, and the project had a strong personal impact on the participants, especially in building confidence and media literacy skills. The project’s hands-on, creative approach and emphasis on practical media production skills, and multimedia storytelling was seen as a key strength.
The Trophies
The winners of each of the five award categories received a beautiful trophy, and each of the Highly Commended projects received a beautiful MLI Awards wall plaque. Designed and hand-crafted by Cian Magill of Magill Woodcraft Ireland, the design is based on an abstract representation of an enlightened eye – symbolising the power within, that can be achieved with persistence and inner belief. It is also inspired by the concept of awareness, critical thinking, and one’s motivation to make a positive difference in the world.
Congratulations to everyone who was shortlisted, and to all of the category winners and the Highly Commended projects!