A group of outstanding young people from across Donegal were recognised at the Donegal Youth Service’s ‘Celebration Event’ on Thursday the 11th of April in An Grianán Theatre.
The annual event aims to highlight the achievements of young people, volunteers, youth clubs and Donegal Youth Service Projects from the past year.
The awards were an opportunity to highlight the young people and volunteers who go above and beyond, who have overcome great challenges, and who ‘light up the room as soon as they enter’. These young people and volunteers are what make Donegal Youth Service so special, and it is an honour to give them the recognition they so deserve.
And the winners are…
Youth Club Young Person of the Year: Denis Ó Colla (Club Óige Chríost Rí)
Youth Club Volunteer of the Year: Shaun Dorrian Fanad YC
Youth Club of the Year: Club Óige Chríost Rí
Young Carer of The Year: Fatima Majid
Project Young Person of the Year: Ryan Cunningham
Project Volunteer of The Year: Lee Russell
Orla O’Reilly Special Recognition Awards: Philip Doda and Malcolm Boyd
Philip & Malcolm Special Recognition Awards
Lee Russell DYS Project Volunteer of the year
Shaun Dorrian YC Volunteer of The Year
Fatima Majid Young Carer of the year
Denis O Colla YC Young Person of The Year
Ryan Cunningham DYS Project YP of the year
As well as giving out awards, the event is a great opportunity for young people from all over Donegal to showcase their talents. Performances on the night were from Neptune M, Moyne Highland Dancers, Club Óige Dhobhair, Junior, Salem, World Wide Voices group, Sean Meehan and Jamie, who closed the show with his rendition of ‘This Is Me’ that had the audience singing along.
This year the theme was ‘The Greatest Showman’, with host Kai McHugh kicking off the show with a dance performance with Pinehill Dance Studios.
The theme was chosen because the message of the film is something that is very close to the hearts of those at DYS. It is about being unique, about not being afraid to be yourself and that society should be able to accept everyone as they are.
Pinehill & Kai McHugh
“Our annual event was a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of young people and volunteers from all over Donegal in their youth clubs and youth projects, and to showcase the wonderful contribution that youth work makes to the lives of young people in their communities,” said Lorraine Thompson, DYS Regional Director.
The show also included interviews with Lorraine Thompson, Chairperson Frank Dooley and the 3 European Solidarity Corps Volunteers Maria C, Maria G and Marta who were surprised with the gift of a Donegal GAA jersey each that they can take back to their home countries of Spain and Romania.
Frank Dooley DYS Chairperson
The event is an opportunity to look back at some of the many highlights from the previous year. Just a few of the many highlights from 2018 were: The Daybreak Project making it to the final of the National Lottery Good Causes Awards, a new project Youthscape was launched, and BreakOut attended the launch of the world’s first ever LGBTI+ Youth Strategy.
Donegal Youth Service would also like to thank the following businesses for donating spot prizes for the young people on the night: Pat’s Pizza, Century Cinemas, Burrito Loco, Arena 7, Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, G&G, Michael Murphy Sports, Honeypot Café, Café Davitt and Donegal Stationery.
Donegal Youth Service is a countywide youth organisation, meeting the needs of young people all over Donegal. For more information you can pop in to 16-18 Port Road, Letterkenny, call 074 91 29630, email admin@donegalyouthservice.ie, visit www.donegalyouthservice.ie and stay up to date with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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