Today (Wednesday 15 October 2025) the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is delighted to host an Awards Ceremony for students from around the country who took part in our national competitions throughout the year.
We recognise and celebrate the winners of the Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), the CSO Special Award at the Young Economist of the Year, and the John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition. The ceremony is being held in Croke Park today from 12pm to 1.30pm.
Rónán Ó Dochartaigh from Gweedore, Co. Donegal is 15 years old and in third year in Pobailscoil Ghaoth Dobhair. His winning project involved investigating if a certain pattern existed in Irish data sets. Benford’s Law states that in any given data set, numbers beginning with the digit 1, appear more frequently (30.1%).
He said the project increased his awareness of maths and statistics in the world around us and his communication and presentation skills improved greatly. Rónán would love to study robotics as his first choice but the technology/engineering fields are of interest to him. He received a silver medal and a trophy.
Mir Hasibullah Zia, a sixth-year student from CBS Wexford won the Award for the Use of Open Data at the Young Economist of the Year 2025. His project involved investigating the impact of multinational corporations (MNCs) on the Irish economy, society, and environment. It used data on earnings, tax, education, gender, and environmental indicators to analyse the positives and negatives of MNCs in Ireland.
On winning the award, he said: “Winning the CSO Award at the Young Economist of the Year felt surreal. I hadn’t expected to win anything, let alone the CSO category, and eventually, the overall award. Standing on that stage, I felt proud to represent those who believed in me, especially as many professors and students resonated with my project.” Looking ahead, Mir would like to pursue a career in economics. He received a silver medal and a trophy.
Students Heidi Shellam, Hollie Field, and Saoirse Lynam of Moate Community School, Co. Westmeath, won the John Hooper Medal for Statistics for their poster “Electrobloom: An Electroculture Growth Chamber to Increase the Germination and Yield of Protected Crops”. They were each presented with a silver medal and share a cash prize of €600. They also won €1,000 for their school.
When asked about their win, the students said: “We were delighted to find out we had placed first in the John Hooper Competition and to see our hard work had paid off.”
The goal of the poster was to find out the effect that electroculture had on various plant seeds. They tested different varieties of electrodes, made using recycled copper, to test for optimal conditions for their growth chamber. Their win at national level meant they were eligible to represent Ireland in the Senior Category of the European Statistics Competition.
Heidi is considering a career in science, whilst Hollie would like to pursue a career in sonography. Saoirse’s career choice is still uncertain.
Second prize in the John Hooper Competition went to Katie O’Kane of Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. She took second prize for her poster “Fashion over Function: Do polo wraps cause more harm than good”. She won a cash prize of €350 while her school received €650.
Third prize in the John Hooper Competition went to Séan Murphy of Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. He came third for his poster “Implicit Bias and Education Level: Analysing Employers’ Unconscious Preferences Using Implicit Association Test (IAT)”. He won a cash prize of €200 and won €400 for his school.
The runners-up in the John Hooper Competition were also honoured for their projects. All of today’s winners and runners-up received a framed certificate to mark their achievements.
Presenting the awards, Assistant Director General of the CSO, Maria Hurley, praised all those who entered the competitions for thinking about new ways to show how data and statistics can be used to inform our lives.
“Every year we see a very high standard of entries for the CSO Competitions and Awards. Students consistently demonstrate resourcefulness, creativity, and original thinking by exploring a vast range of subjects, and this year is no exception.
Promoting the understanding and use of statistics is an integral part of the CSO’s Educational Outreach programme which includes the John Hooper Medal, the Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition, and the Award at the Young Economist of the Year.” Ms. Hurley said.
The goal of the CSO’s John Hooper competition is to improve students' abilities to describe, explore, and investigate their environment using statistics. This national competition, now in its sixteenth year, is open to individuals and to teams of two or three students, aged up to 18 years old.
The competition is named in recognition of Cork man John Hooper, who was the first Director of Statistics for the newly formed Irish State, Saorstát Éireann, in 1923. Until his untimely death in 1930 at the age of just 51, Mr. Hooper shaped the development of official statistics in Ireland. His work led to the development of new statistics, e.g., the first Census of Population and Census of Industrial Production in 1926, and the 1926 Statistics Act.
The Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the Young Scientist Exhibition is now in its eleventh year. This competition aims to encourage young people to use open data. Open data is data that can be accessed, used, or shared. Governments, businesses, and individuals can use open data to bring about social, economic, and environmental benefits.
The award is for the most innovative use, or potential use, of CSO data, whether it is in statistical analyses, processes or outputs, a piece of research, a visualisation, a data map, the development of a device, a software application, or the use of CSO data in any other innovative way.
The YEOTY National Awards are organised by Oide. The CSO is proud to partner with YEOTY as a sponsor of the Medal for the Best Use of Data. The YEOTY invites students to explore real-life issues by submitting projects on any area of economics, but projects must refer to at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Economic, Social, or Environmental goals).
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Editor's Note
For further information or interview requests for any of the winners contact:
Marketing, Graphic Design and Events Manager, Aeidín Sheppard on (+353) 85 800 2267
or email: information@cso.ie