Judges.
Guest Judge | INSPA Winner (2020/21)
Meabh Lowney | St. Joseph's GNS
Hello,
My name is Meabh Lowney, I am 13 years old and I'm from Clonakilty in County Cork. I am currently in 6th class in St Joseph's G.N.S.
Some of you know that I was the overall winner of last year's photography competition with my photo 'Our Bubble'. But this photo wasn't an easy shot! It took almost 2 hours to get the bubble not to pop! Not to mention my sister's impatience whilst taking the picture! I almost gave up, but I am very grateful that I did not otherwise I would not be where I am today.
Other than photography I enjoy, playing piano, horse-riding and drama/acting. A quote I really love is 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' Because without the COVID-19 pandemic, I would've never had the inspiration for my photograph for last year's INSPA competition, so always make the best of a bad situation!
Judging Panel | 2021/22
Enda Bowe | Photographer
Enda Bowe's work is concerned with storytelling and the search for light and beauty in the ordinary. He presents his work through exhibition and the publication of photographic monographs.
To date Bowe’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Red Hook Gallery, New York, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, the National Portrait Gallery, London, Fotohof, Salzburg, Dortmund U, Dortmund, The Gallery of Photography, Dublin and The Visual Centre Of Contemporary Art, Ireland.
Bowe won the Zürich Portrait Prize 2019, National Gallery, Ireland. He received the Taylor Wessing Portrait Second Prize on consecutive years, 2018 and 2019, National Portrait Gallery, London. His collection of work ‘At Mirrored River’ received the international Solas Photography Award 2015 and was nominated for the Prix Pictet Award 2016 and the Deutsche Borse Foundation Photography Prize 2016.
Bowe’s first monograph 'Kilburn Cherry' published by J&J Books received the Birgit Skiold Artist Award 2014, Whitechapel Gallery London. His third monograph "This Thing I Want. I Know Not What', inspired by Carson McCuller's "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was published by Paper Tiger Books in Sept 2018. Love’s Fire Song was exhibited at The Gallery of Photography Ireland and was published by Blue Swallow Books. The exhibition ran from Aug 8th to Nov18th, 2020.
Bowe recently worked with Lenny Abrahamson on the acclaimed tv series Normal People, and will be collaborating again on Abrahamson’s next project, Conversations With Friends.
Enda is a committed artist who approaches both commissioned and personal projects with the same passion, dedication and attention to detail. He is from Ireland and lives and works in London.
Joe McKeown | INTO President
Joe McKeown is the current President of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO). A native of Haulbowline, Co Cork, Joe attended the island's two teacher primary school. He attended secondary school in Scoil an Chroí Naofa, Carraig na bhFear, Co. Cork.
Joe began teaching in St. Canice's Primary School, Kilkenny when he graduated from St Patrick's College in 1982. He spent three years as principal of Kilkenny School Project from 1995-1998. Joe then joined the staff of St. Patrick's Boys National School and was appointed Deputy Principal in 2009. In 2015, he was appointed principal of the 27-teacher school with 3 special classes for children with autism.
Joe is currently a member of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and Chair of the NCCA Audit and Risk Committee.
Fiona Forman | Author & Teacher-Trainer
Fiona Forman is an international author, speaker, facilitator and teacher-trainer in the area of well-being and Positive Psychology in education. Fiona holds an M.Sc. in Applied Positive Psychology, the science of well-being, from the University of East London.
Having spent many years as a primary school teacher, she is passionate about placing well-being at the heart of school life, and she has seen first-hand the many benefits this brings. She is the co-author of Weaving Well-Being, an SPHE programme for children from 7 to 12 years which is now in use internationally. Fiona is also the author of Wired for Well-Being, a new well-being programme for second level schools. Her junior programme, Welcome to Well-Being, has just been released in Ireland and will shortly be launched in Australia.
Fiona is also the mother of two young adults, and this has deepened her awareness of the need to equip our young people with the skills they need to flourish and thrive in life. She lives with her family in Donabate, Co. Dublin.
Brian O’Doherty | President of IPPN
Brian qualified as a primary school teacher in 1988. He began his teaching career in St. Patrick’s Loreto P.S. and served there as a mainstream class teacher for 13 years. He completed his M.Ed during this time, specialising in the areas of Education Management & Administration and Educational Psychology. He was appointed to his first principalship in 2001 in Loreto College Junior School where he worked for 5 years. He returned to St. Patrick’s Loreto P.S. in 2006 as principal. The school currently has an enrolment of just under 800 pupils and has 63 members of staff.
Brian has been a member of IPPN since 2001 and is a former member of the National Council. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2016 and has served as Treasurer of the organisation from 2017 to 2019. He was elected as IPPN Deputy President/President-elect in June 2019 and is currently serving as President from September 2021 to August 2023.
Majella McAllister | CEO The Museum of Childhood
Museum of Childhood Ireland founder and Youth Voices lead at the Museum of Childhood Ireland, Majella's background is in education and social entrepreneurship. She has a keen interest in history and literature, and is currently pursuing further postgraduate studies at the Innovation Academy at UCD.
In 2020 one of her concepts, Project 2020 Together, Le Chéile, an online initiative on the worldwide voice of children during the Covid-19 pandemic was launched and physical exhibitions have now also been held in Ireland, USA, Italy, Nepal...Project 2020 was shortlisted to the final six for an International award alongside the Glucksman, the Glazer, the Warhol, the Rijksmuseum and the National Gallery of Singapore, and was also honoured by INACS - Istituto Nazionale Arte Cultura Spettacolo, Italy, for services to children worldwide.
In founding the museum of childhood Ireland, she recognises that the team she has brought together is a team of extraordinarily special people, working together in a voluntary capacity to home over 30,000 material artefacts of childhood and to write children in Ireland from archeological evidence, through history, up to the present day into our mainstream narrative; ensuring ALL our children are seen and heard
Richard Carr | Artist & Founder of INSPA
Richard is an artist, educational photographer and cultural engineer. His work has been supported by numerous private and public bodies including Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland. With this support, he has exhibited alongside leading international practitioners, such as Bill Viola, José González, and Oscar Nominated Screen Composer John Powell.
Since 2015, Richard has also worked extensively as a School Liaison to educational establishments who are home to over 25,000 students from preschool, through primary and secondary all the way to third level. During this time, he founded Ireland's Parent Association Funds, which helped fund 10 creative projects across Ireland. He is an advocate for Creative Well-being practices within education and has over 10 years of experience initiating, developing, and managing numerous educational, community and cultural projects.
He holds an MFA from NCAD Dublin and a PGDip in Business in Cultural Event Management from IADT, Dun Laoghaire. Alongside this, he completed a placement at the internationally renowned Irish Museum of Modern Art, where he worked in close collaboration with the museums educational department.