Dubbed the Oscars of Irish radio, the annual IMRO Awards event was held at the Lyrath Hotel in Kilkenny on Friday night (Oct 4th) with a capacity crowd descending on the Marble City.
Youth regional radio station Beat 102 103 was awarded the prestigious accolade of Outstanding Achievement at the national awards ceremony for their Digital Media Literacy initiative.
‘Digital Media & You’ – is a Sound and Vision funded media literacy roadshow, produced and delivered by presenters at Beat 102 103 to secondary school students across the South East.
Over the course of four months, Beat reached twenty secondary schools in the region and spoke to over 2,000 first year students in Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary to deliver the important message; Stop, Think, and Check before you Click!
Beat’s Digital Media Literacy Tour for 2024 also reached thousands more online - highlighting the importance of online safety and awareness in the ever-evolving age of social media and showcasing vital digital information to help young people navigate through misinformation.
This roadshow helped students identify misinformation and disinformation online and enabled them to have the skills, knowledge, and understanding of how to process content on and offline.
Beat Boss Gabrielle Cummins says she’s delighted that the collaborative initiative has been honoured with this national award “Digital Media & You involved so many talented Beat team members & they had valuable resources provided by Coimisiún na Meán, NCCA, Media Literacy Ireland, Webwise, Learning Waves, principals and teachers. Most importantly, we received honest, constructive feedback from first year students in Ursuline secondary school Waterford and High School Clonmel at the pilot stage. All these stakeholders played a crucial role in ensuring we delivered a roadshow that positively impacted students at each of the twenty schools.”
The roadshow was hosted by a variety of well-known voices on the regional radio station including Beat Breakfast’s Niall and Sho, Beat Throwbacks’ Cillian Doyle, Bring the Beat’s Michelle Heffernan, The Takeover’s presenting duo Megan O’Regan Byrne, and Kirsten Mate Maher.
‘Digital Media & You’ was part-funded by the new Comisiún na Meán under its Sound and Vision scheme and focused on four main strands of the existing Digital Media Literacy course at secondary school level in Ireland.
The course for first year students is devised by Beat in consultation with teachers, the radio sector’s training network Learning Waves, and Media Literacy Ireland.
Roadshow coordinator Claire Rowe says demand exceeded supply “ we were limited to twenty schools and honestly we could have done triple those numbers such was the interest by the end of the roadshow in May. We have since created an online version of the roadshow which is accessible at www.beat102103.com so other teachers and students can continue to avail of this helpful, fun, learning resource.”
Notes to Editor:
Key stats from survey carried out with students post workshop:
-
90% of students thought the course content was relevant to them and other people their age.
-
84% enjoyed the interactive element of the workshop which made the topic of media literacy more interesting for their age group.
-
77% of participating students said they would tell their parents about what they had learned and they will aim to impart their new knowledge to their parents so they can also be safer online.
-
When asked what is one digital media habit they will now try to adopt; 35% of students said they aim to reduce their screen time as a takeaway from the workshop, and 15% will be more cautious of possible scams online.
-
87% of the students across the 20 schools would recommend this workshop to their friends.