Award Winners 2020

James Hayes Winner of 2020 Mary Mulvihill Award

2020 Winner

NUI Galway student James Hayes is the 2020 winner of the Mary Mulvihill Award, the science media competition for third-level students that commemorates the legacy of science journalist and author Mary Mulvihill (1959–2015).

Download a copy of James Hayes winning entry: James Hayes – Cabra’s Scientific Banksy

2020 Highly Commended

TCD student Aoife Kearins, received the judges’ highly commended award, which comprises a €500 cash prize.TCD student Aoife Kearins, received the judges’ highly commended award, which comprises a €500 cash prize.

Download a copy of Aoife Kearins’ highly commended entry: Aoife Kearins – George Gabriel Stokes

Read the press release following the 2020 award announcement.

About the Award

To mark the republication of the book Ingenious Ireland, this year’s competition invited entries on the theme of ‘Our scientific heritage’. It encouraged students to submit projects and works in text, audio, visual or mixed formats that explored places, artefacts, personalities, and issues—such as public awareness or conservation—relating to Ireland’s scientific and industrial heritage.

Now in its fourth year, this year’s competition invited entries on the theme of ‘Our scientific heritage’. It encouraged students to submit projects and works in text, audio, visual or mixed formats that explored places, artefacts, personalities, and issues—such as public awareness or conservation—relating to Ireland’s scientific and industrial heritage.

Students from seven third-level institutions across the country submitted entries that covered a broad range of topics, including a history of the Dunsink Observatory, an environmental campaign to preserve Bantry Bay’s kelp forests, and biographical essays on diverse figures, including computing pioneer Kathleen McNulty and microscopist Mary Ward.

“Mary’s family is delighted with the announcement. James Hayes’ winning essay echoes Mary’s passion for communicating Ireland’s scientific heritage and it is wonderful to see this fine tradition continuing. The subject of his essay connects nicely with her audio guide to the Royal Canal,” said Mary’s sister Nóirín Mulvihill, who is co-chair of the Mary Mulvihill Association.

Museum director’s tribute to award-winners

Lynn Scarff, Director of the National Museum of Ireland, writes:

On 20 May I should have been meeting two young writers to commend them on their work and achievements and present to them their prizes in the Mary Mulvihill Award 2020. But a global pandemic has put a halt to that. Instead, I got to spend some time with William Rowan Hamilton and George Gabriel Stokes.

It’s not every day that you read a piece of writing that unites Hamilton, Banksy and Alice in Wonderland. Good communicators have a rare gift of fashioning a narrative that hooks our interest and draws us in, imparting information lightly and leaving us eager for more.

James Hayes and Aoife Kearins, the winner and highly commended entrant of the 2020 Mary Mulvihill Award, share the attribute of connecting the everyday like graffiti and ocean waves with scientific fact to create a compelling narrative that will hook any curious mind.

They demonstrate the gifts of great communicators like Mary Mulvihill who understood implicitly that the best writing – no matter what the subject – needs to connect with our daily lived experiences. In doing so, they reach out to the curious in all of us, not dumbing down or over-complicating, just focusing on telling a great and compelling story.

I’d like to congratulate them on their achievements and wish them every success in their future endeavours.