Kinsale Community School students secure multiple awards at Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Students from Kinsale Community School (KCS) have secured multiple awards and podium finishes at the Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (YSTE) 2026, currently taking place at the RDS.

Kinsale Community School students secured multiple awards at the Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2026, continuing the school’s long-established record of success at Ireland’s premier second-level science competition. With all seven projects qualifying for exhibition and several receiving podium finishes and special awards, KCS maintained its reputation for consistent high-level performance at national level.

Qualification for the exhibition is highly competitive, with several thousand entries submitted annually, and reaching the exhibition stage is regarded as a significant achievement in its own right. All KCS projects on display reflected sustained research, analysis and presentation at a national standard.

At this year’s exhibition, Miah O’Callaghan and Peter O’Leary were awarded second place in the Biological & Ecological Sciences – Intermediate Group category. In the Social & Behavioural Sciences – Junior Group category, Ella Holly and Grace Holland secured second place, while Cushla O’Reilly, Caoimhe Ní Charragáin and Elise O’Sullivan were awarded third place.

In the Technology – Senior Individual category, Afric Deasy received two awards, placing third in her category and also winning the Oracle Academy Award for her project examining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate bias in news media.

Kinsale Community School was also represented at the exhibition by Cathal Murray, Rebecca Whelan, and Emily Bertoletti, Annabel Long and Nora Lynch, whose projects were selected for exhibition and presented over the course of the three-day event.

The results continue Kinsale Community School’s long-established record at the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, with students from the school having achieved over 100 national awards since first participating. The school is immensely proud of all students involved and sincerely acknowledges the collective support of parents, teachers, mentors and the wider school community, whose encouragement and commitment played a key role in enabling student participation and success at national level.