Monday, 18.01.2010
Follow the Fleet Schools Essay Competition

Due to recent inclement weather conditions affecting the school calendar the IMDO (Irish Marine Development Office) has announced a week extension for entries for the 'Follow the Fleet' schools essay competition. The deadline for entry submission is the 5th of February 2010. The competition is sponsored by Transas, a world leading Irish based maritime navigation systems company.

www.followthefleet.ie is the IMDO educational website that aims to bring the world of maritime adventure, imagination and education to the class room. The program which is now in its third year is being used by over 400 schools around Ireland and is used in classrooms as a teaching aid for the SESE Curriculum.

The competition will be centered around three key themes that are all interlinked with the lesson chapters and Captain’s logs published on the Follow the Fleet website. The three themes that classes can write about are:

Maritime History
Maritime Trading in Ireland
Technology and the Mariner

The word limit for each themed essay is 500 words and pupils are encouraged to include pictures or photos if choosing this category to support their essay.

Commenting on their sponsorship of the Follow the Fleet 2009/2010 Competition, Mr Cormac Gebruers, Product Manager of Transas said ‘Transas are delighted to support the IMDO to continue the program this year. Ireland is an island nation and we are a people of the sea and the Follow the Fleet program is a unique and important outreach project based on that. This year’s competition encourages children to explore the impact of a hugely important asset all around them – the sea.’

Glenn Murphy, Director of the Irish Maritime Development Office said ‘We are delighted to have the support of Transas this year. We are encouraging all classes and schools who are registered on the Follow the Fleet programme to enter the essay competition. It is a great opportunity for the teachers and students to bring their experiences with Follow the Fleet from the classroom to life through animation, while also having the chance to experience real life situations on the bridge of a ships simulator.’

Competition Prizes

The IMDO are offering four amazing prizes for the winning entries which will be judged by a panel headed by RTE Marine Correspondent Mr Tom McSweeney. The winning class will have their scripted into a narrative, voiced by actor Aidan Dooley of ‘Tom Crean – Arctic Explorer’ fame. This will be hosted on the IMDO Follow the Fleet YouTube Channel.

The winning class will also be given the opportunity to experience of commanding their own ship at sea from the safety of the world class ship simulators at the National Maritime College in Cork.

1st prize

The overall winning class and class teacher as judged by the Follow the Fleet essay panel will receive: a laptop for the winning classes’ teacher; two handheld plug in and play movie cameras for the winning class; animation and narration of the winning story; a class visit to the National Maritime College of Ireland in Cork where the class will be shown the facilities and find out what it is like to be on the bridge of a ship in the NMCI state of the art Ship Simulators.

Runner-up Category Prizes

The three runner up schools from each themed category will receive a handheld plug in and play movie camera and their essay will be animated and narrated by actor Aidan Dooley of ‘Tom Crean – Arctic  Explorer’ fame and hosted on the Follow the Fleet You Tube Channel.

Home Schools Prize

There will also be a prize for registered home school users of the Follow the Fleet programme. The prize is a handheld plug in and play movie camera and their essay will be narrated by actor Aidan Dooley of ‘Tom Crean – Arctic  Explorer’ fame and hosted on the Follow the Fleet You Tube Channel.

Entries

The deadline for the competition has been extended until the 5th of February 2010. All details of the competition and entry forms are available on-line on the news section of http://www.imdo.ie/followthefleet/news.asp.