THE awards presentation for the Donal Walsh LiveLife Film Competition took place at the ‘Live Life Love’ day on Wednesday, at the Brandon Conference Centre, in Tralee.
The event, which is now in its third year, had over 700 attendees, and was in honour of Donal, a special teenager who spread the message of the importance of living life.
The first place winners on the day were Scoil an Spoirid Naomh in the Primary Schools Section, Darragh Clarke of Mercy Mounthawk in the Secondary School Section and Malcolm Willis and Noel McElligott in the Adult Section (see full results below).
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The theme for the competition this year was ‘Live Life, Our World’. There were three categories – primary school, secondary school, and adult – and the shortlisted films of each category were screened and the overall winners were announced.
At the event, Kerry Footballers, Marc Ó Sé and Aidan O’Mahony, spoke about the legacy and the impact Donal has left behind while headlining act, Hermitage Green, supplied the music.
There were performances by Chapter 2, Paulie O’Brien, and 12 year old Joshua Roche while The Animal Roadshow brought along their animals for attendees to interact with.
Mary Lucey of the Live Life Foundation said: “Live Life Love Day is in its third annual event and in honour of Donal Walsh and the accumulation of months of work for the national film competition. The whole idea is that people capture the world and living life to the full in a two minute clip.”
“There are over 700 attending today and we’ll be screening the shortlisted films and the awards will be sponsored by Dairymaster. All the bands are giving up their time to play.” she said.
Fionnbar Walsh, father of Donal, spoke about the event; “It’s doubled in size every year and we have 60 films entered into the event and it’s all to spread the message Donal started about living life, enjoying it, and making the most of it.
“There’s schools from all over the country. There’s schools from Dublin, Wexford, Kerry. Schools from vertically all over. It’s just amazing how it has caught on. The theme of the films is to Live Life and you have to show how you feel about living life,” he said.
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Ardfert National School was among those highly commended for their entry into the Primary Schools’ category of the the highly competitive competition.
One of the teachers, who helped the children produce the film, spoke: “The film was a collaboration between Ardfert, Killury and Abbeydorney National Schools. The schools came together and made a project and it focused on all the animals and the variety of life in our world and how much we have to do to protect them because it’s their world too.”
The IT Tralee TV & Film Society was also awarded as runners up for their entry in the Adult category of the competition.
Michael Simpson, who accepted the award on behalf of the society, spoke: “We made it as the I.T Tralee TV & Film Society but because of the timetable, we only saw the deadline for entry two days before it. Within six hours we had to come up with an idea and film it.”
“Our film is to show how each person can have their hobbies and be their own individuals within the college. We can make their world into our world and keep it seen. We are very happy with the outcome of it,” he continued.
“It was stressful to make it because we only had six hours and I was sitting up in college on my own trying to edit it as quick as I could; but it was very rewarding because of the lessons and skills learned from it,” he said.
The film can be watched below…
The society were runners up to a winning film of a high standard, which was written and directed by Killarney native, Malcolm Willis.
His film started as dark and atmospheric but had a great twist which brought to light the importance of living life.
Primary Schools Section
Highly Commended
• St Joseph’s National School
• Scoil Eoin Balloonagh
• Ardfert, Killury and Abbeydorney National Schools
Finalists:
• Third Place: CBS Primary School
• Second Place: Spa National School
• First Place: Scoil an Spoirid Naomh
Secondary School Section:
Highly Commended:
• Anton De Arribas De Renedo, St Brendan’s College, Bray
•Kevin Langon, Colaiste na Riochta, Listowel
• Leah Fleming, Loreto College Ballybriggan, Dublin
Finalists:
• Third Place: Shane Costello Mercy Mounthawk
• Second Place: Alan Holland, Pobal Isolde Palmerstown
• First Place: Darragh Clark, Mercy Mounthawk
Adult Finalists:
• Third Place: Richie O Connell Cork College of Commerce
• Second Place: ITT TV and Film Society
• First Place: Malcolm Willis and Noel McElligott
Scroll down for photos…
