Celebrating our 2024 Gaisce Gold Awardees!
One of the highlights in the Gaisce calendar is our annual Gaisce Gold Award ceremony, with this year’s event taking place on November 21st, 2024. President Michael D. Higgins proudly awarded 73 exceptional young people with their Gaisce Gold Award Medals, The Gold Awardees this year represent 17 counties and collectively completed more than 3,458 hours of volunteering throughout their Gaisce journey. 16 of the 73 awardees came through access and inclusion pathways. Gaisce participants this year mastered many skills, activities and projects, from learning Irish Sign Language and Chinese to hiking some of Ireland’s most challenging peaks, volunteering in
See Your Bees Photography Competition Winners
Lidl Ireland has teamed up with Gaisce - The President's Award to offer bee-spotters an epic chance to win Lidl Ireland vouchers and if you're currently a Gaisce Participant, to win an ADVENTURE JOURNEY for your whole group! SEE YOUR BEES PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION WINNERS National Winner Chloe Winters – Galway – 23 Regional Winners Georgina Brennan-Stynes – Carlow – age 45 Roisin Reilly – Cavan – age 22 Fintan Conway – Clare – age 15 Bridget Bransfield – Cork – age 29 Amy Keating – Galway – age 18 Cecylia Blaszczok – Donegal – age 60 Keely Early –
From Planting Bulbs for Bees to Global Citizenship: Over 75 young people receive Gaisce Gold Award honour for inspirational and outstanding contribution to society GalleryFrom Planting Bulbs for Bees to Global Citizenship: Over 75 young people receive Gaisce Gold Award honour for inspirational and outstanding contribution to society
From Planting Bulbs for Bees to Global Citizenship: Over 75 young people receive Gaisce Gold Award honour for inspirational and outstanding contribution to society
President Higgins presents awards to participants at first in-person ceremony in three years. Over 25,000 hours of personal development and community involvement recognised at awards ceremony. 5th July, 2022: 79 young people from across Ireland have been commended for their outstanding commitment to personal development and contribution to society at the Gaisce Gold Award ceremony today. President Michael D Higgins delivered the Gaisce Gold Award to each recipient at a ceremony which took place at Áras an Uachtaráin – the first Gaisce Gold Award Ceremony to take place in three years. Combined, recipients invested more than 25,000 hours in personal development and voluntary activities to achieve these awards.
The Impact of Gaisce – The President’s Award on young adults in Irish prisons
In April 2022 Silvia Gagliardi and Orlaith Rice at UCD completed an evaluation report on ‘The Impact of Gaisce – The President’s Award on young adults in Irish prisons'. This report provides a qualitative evaluation of ‘Gaisce – The President’s Award’ for young adults in Irish prisons. Building on previous research on Gaisce, this report makes space for a vulnerable and marginalised group to provide their own feedback on the programme they participate in while in custody. Both strengths and limitations in undertaking a positive youth development programme in prison are identified, and recommendations detailed. To download a copy of
Gaisce Online (GO) is live!
We're proud to announce the launch of our new online system, Gaisce Online (GO). Thank you for your patience while we changed systems and apologise for any inconvenience caused. We're currently rolling out the system in phases to ensure we can handle the traffic and queries and make sure everything is running smoothly. You should receive an email from us shortly if you haven't yet. We've created a "Gaisce Online: Help & FAQ" page, which will assist you on getting started and navigation: https://www.gaisce.ie/gaisce-online-help-faq/ We would love to hear feedback on your experience using the system. When you've had a
Gaisce Online (GO) is coming soon!
Gaisce Online (GO) is coming soon! Gaisce – The President’s Award is delighted to be moving to a new-look, improved and updated online system for our President’s Award Leaders (PALs) and Gaisce participants. To facilitate the changeover to Gaisce Online (GO), our online portal is currently unavailable. Gaisce Online will be launched in early April 2022. Keep an eye on this page for up-to-date information. Don’t panic! All personal information, participant information, records, previous diary entries and payments will not be impacted during this time. If you are an existing PAL or Gaisce participant, you will receive an email when the new-look
Gaisce welcomes Shauna Hoey to the team
Sligo native Shauna Hoey has joined Gaisce – The President’s Award as a Development Officer. Shauna has worked in the youth sector since graduating from Sligo Institute of Technology in 2013. While completing her degree, Shauna undertook a study abroad semester in Denmark where she studied social pedagogy for four months. Following the end of her Erasmus experience, she moved to New York to complete her work experience with the Aisling Irish Centre situated in Yonkers. Shauna then moved to the hills of Donegal as a Youth Council project worker. During her time here she guided the Youth Council to receive a Garda
Christmas comes early for Gaisce thanks to Youth Work Ireland Louth
Christmas came early at Gaisce – The President’s Award after members of Youth Work Ireland Louth gifted a handcrafted ‘Just a Minute’ bench to the Gaisce office in Ratra House in honour of the organisation’s 35th anniversary. Young people from Youth Work Ireland Louth diligently spent several weeks constructing their ‘Just a Minute’ benches to help promote good mental health in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The group initially started out training in woodwork refurbishment before settling on producing mindfulness benches for designated spaces within their local community in Drogheda. A number of different spaces were identified by the group to receive
Susie Spratt joins Gaisce as Project Manager of Wavelength
Susie Spratt has joined Gaisce - The President\'s Award as Project Manager of Wavelength. Susie has a long-term commitment to education and youth leadership. She came to Gaisce from Concern Worldwide where she project managed the School’s Fast programme and developed their first youth leadership summer programme. Prior to that, Susie worked with ECO-UNESCO where she coordinated their national Young Environmental Awards that saw hundreds of students across Ireland developing a real love for the environment and a passion for taking action. In her spare time she volunteered in Johannesburg with the ground-breaking African Leadership Academy. Originally a teacher (in
FutureTalks series a resounding success
Gaisce - The President's Award, as part of its Wavelength programme, recently hosted a five part series of workshops and talks for participants. 'FutureTalks' was an opportunity for Wavelength participants to connect on and explore future education and career paths and learn about how they can make their voices heard. Eight young people from all over Ireland participated in the series and showed fantastic commitment and enthusiasm. The group met and worked with a fantastic assembly of facilitators and speakers online between November 17th and December 12th. Mateja Jaksic, Doris Abuchi-Ogbonda, Eric Ehigie, Razan Ibrahim, Zak Moradi, Ellie Kisyombe and
