Contest deadline looms for budding scientists

YOUNG science enthusiasts have just one month to get their entries in for next January’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.

This year’s winner Aisling Judge, the youngest in the competition’s history, was full of encouragement yesterday as she reminded students returning to school of the looming deadline on October 6.

“Students interested in entering should talk to their teachers and get a move on as there are only a few weeks to go. It’s not as hard as you think, spend some time chatting with your friends and family and begin throwing ideas onto a sheet of paper, start to question why things happen,” she said.

“Pick one of your ideas, stick with it and if you make it to the RDS you’ll have an experience you will never forget. Every student who walks through the doors of the RDS goes home with new friends and are wowed by what they have experienced.”

She was just 14 when she was named BT Young Scientist of the Year 2006 in January but hopes the skills she learned from her experience will help her get a job in years to come.

The third-year student at Kinsale Community School in Co Cork was rewarded for her entry in the biological and ecological sciences section, after developing an indicator to show when packaged food was gone off. She scooped the top prize of €5,000 and a Waterford Crystal Trophy, and will represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Sweden later this month — where the average age of her competitors will be 20.

Organisers of the Irish competition, being staged once again at the RDS in Dublin, hope to top last year’s record entry of 1,152 entries. Around 500 projects will be chosen from the submissions received over the coming weeks to take part in the exhibition from January 9 to 13.

More schools from both sides of the Border are being encouraged to take part, boosted by the organisers’ grant scheme offering up to €1,000 towards accommodation costs for schools over 70km outside Dublin.