ST Dominic's Grammar School for Girls has come out on top at the 2024 Trócaire Game Changers competition – a competition raising awareness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the world around us.
Against stiff competition, St Dominic’s won the post-primary category with their game ‘Fun Farm!’ while across the city students from Our Lady and St Patrick's College Knock came third with ‘Climate Battle’. In the Primary category another city school, Springfield Primary School, was awarded third place with ‘Schoolnopoly’.
Over 200 young people and their educators from across Ireland took part in the 2024 Trócaire Game Changers finals in The Helix, Dublin. Over 223 entries were received, with 21 schools and four youth groups taking part in the finals. A total of 30 board, digital and card games – based on different themes including equality, sustainability, climate change and food security – made it through to the finals, with young people playing and judging the games of fellow finalists at the event.
Proud St Dominic’s teacher Anne Connolly said: “Game Changers is an absolutely brilliant competition for pupils to get involved in. Our students were really engaged with the game making element and it definitely allows their research abilities and creativity to shine through.
"We found the competition an incredibly positive experience for our pupils. They said it was great fun designing the games and playing the games at the Finals as they were all so different. They spent a lots of time on their game as they wanted it to look good and to work as well as possible. They were so excited to be crowned winners.”
Trócaire Game Changers is an annual competition run by the Development Education team, who run workshops in schools and youth groups across the country teaching students and young people about global justice issues. The programme invites students to create a development education game that focuses on a global justice issue of their choice or one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).