Kells Youthreach wins national award

Kells Youthreach students recently won the overall best project in the Drugs.ie National Youth Media Awards.
The group’s winning entry was called 'Monkey on your back’ and was a short video chronicling the issues that young people face today around substance abuse and peer pressure.
It is a tremendous achievement for the students of Kells Youthreach and their music teacher, Enda Burns, considering this year’s competition was the largest ever with almost 1,000 entries.
The awards ceremony took place at the Department of Education and was hosted by RTE’s Eoghan McDermott. 'Love/Hate’ actor John O’Connor also attended.
The Kells video is currently trending on Facebook and can be viewed on the
Drugs.ie website or on the Kells Youthreach Facebook page.
The annual competition encourages discussion of drug-related issues by inviting young people aged between 12-25 to produce either a short video, audio recording or written piece relating to drug and/or alcohol use.
Eoghan McDermott said: “Drug use is a problem across all age groups and all sectors of society, and youth are no exception to this.
“To have a project which encourages young people to think about drugs and drug use, to start a conversation with their peers and to create such wonderful resources is simply fantastic.
“It’s important to empower young people to think critically, to investigate the evidence, to talk with their peers – these are all skills that are essential in life.”