Lauren, 9, from Dublin is EU Digital Girl of the Year

A young coder from Dublin has been named the EU Digital Girl of the Year at an awards ceremony in Rome today.

9-year-old Lauren Boyle was recognised for founding Cool Kids Studio, which involved developing three websites herself.

"OMG! I am Digital Girl of the Year 2014", she tweeted following the announcement.

The Cool Kids Studio provides practical life skills such as coding and advice for children on bullying and friendship. She also created two more websites, one focusing on healthy eating and the other is a 'maker site', which encourages children to try various projects.

Lauren approached Minister of State for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English, TD, with the suggestion that Cool Kids Studio should be an ‘emotional learning’ part of the primary education curriculum.

This is not the first time young Lauren has been rewarded for her work on digital projects. She has received a Next Generation Award for Excellence at the Dot IE Net Visionary Awards and Cool Kids Studio won an award at the 2014 CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards.

Lauren is also a CoderDojo mentor and teaches coding skills to others.

She joins a growing list of tech-savvy, award winning young Irish girls.

Just last month three Kinsale schoolgirls won the top prize at this year's Google Science Fair. Ciara Judge, Émer Hickey (both 16) and Sophie Healy Thow (17) were awarded for their investigation into the use of natural bacteria to assist food production by increasing crop output.