Eureka! Irish science magazine for children scoops international award

A SCIENCE magazine aimed at children aged between 8-12 and produced by two academics at Waterford Institute of Technology has scooped a coveted award.

Eureka is the work of the Institute’s Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST) and has been jointly awarded the 2005 World Young Reader Prize by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

Dr Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill from CALMAST will receive the honour along with representatives from Independent News & Media at the WAN World Young Reader Conference in Buenos Aires next month.

WAN awards the prize annually to the newspaper or newspapers that devise the most innovative projects to develop young readership. There were more than 200 nominations for the 2005 prize from 164 publications in 51 countries.

Hailing Dr Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill for their “exceptional work” in developing CALMAST and with their Eureka publication, Director of Waterford Institute of Technology Prof Kieran R Byrne said they deserved tremendous credit for their work to bridge what he called the sizeable gap in scientific learning.

“The CALMAST managers Sheila and Eoin are excellent innovators when it comes to finding new ways to bring science, engineering and technology to young people at a vital stage of their development and Eureka, now deservedly a global award-winning publication, has achieved excellent penetration in schools countrywide,” Mr Byrne said.

He said there has been a major fall-off in interest in studying science-related subjects at all levels of education and this has huge societal and economic implications.