Students from secondary schools across Kerry received various honours at the Kerry Young Historian Awards in Tralee Library on Thursday evening. Pictured front from left were: Jimmy Deenihan, Kerry Young Historian Award winner 2026 Cathal Slattery (Causeway Comprehensive School), and Muiris Bric. Back l-r were: Molly Walsh (Presentation Secondary School, Listowel), James Dore (Tarbert Comprehensive School), Fr Tom Looney, Claudia Köhler (Kerry County Museum), Jim O’Sullivan, Edel Codd, Grainne Henry (History Teachers Association Kerry branch), Mikalina Zalewska (Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School), Shane O’Connell (Castleisland Community College), and Fran Hanafin (Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School). Photo: Michelle Breen Crean PhotographyA NORTH Kerry student has been named the Kerry Young Historian of the Year for 2026.
Cathal Slattery of Causeway Comprehensive Secondary School received the prestigious honour at the annual Kerry Young Historian Awards which were held on Thursday evening at Tralee Library.
The Kerry Young Historian Award is an annual initiative of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Kerry County Museum and Kerry County Council, supported by Education Centre Tralee and the Kerry branch of the History Teachers Association of Ireland.
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Cathal Slattery was among the seven students nominated for the award this year and received the honour for his essay and presentation on Lady Arbella Denny of Lixnaw, philanthropist and daughter of the renowned surveyor, William Petty.
Students from secondary schools across Kerry received various honours at the Kerry Young Historian Awards in Tralee Library on Thursday evening. Pictured were: James Dore (Tarbert Comprehensive School), Molly Walsh (Presentation Secondary School, Listowel), Kerry Young Historian Award winner 2026 Cathal Slattery (Causeway Comprehensive School), Fran Hanafin (Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School), Mikalina Zalewska (Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School) and Shane O’Connell (Castleisland Community College). Photo: Michelle Breen Crean PhotographyThe seven students who participated this year, entered in the senior category, were:
• Winner: Cathal Slattery – Causeway Comprehensive School (Essay title: Lady Arbella Denny), teacher: Niall Drumm
• Second Place: Molly Walsh – Presentation Secondary School, Listowel (Essay title: Unsung Heroes of Kerry: The Woulfe Family’s Fight for Irish Freedom), teacher: Louise McAuliffe
• Third Place: Fran Hanafin – Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School, Tralee (Essay title: A celebration of Richard Kelliher VC), teacher: Denise Buckley
• Highly commended: Saoirse Collins – Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland (Essay title: Through a stranger’s lens – the story of Bob Finn and the Moonlighters), teachers: Monica Murphy & Padraig Kelliher
• Highly commended: Shane O’Connell – Castleisland Community College (Essay title: The district of Castleisland and its people during the Great Famine)
• Highly commended: Mikalina Zalewska – Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School, Tralee (Essay title: Indentured Servitude, Slavery in Ireland, and the Dark Legacy of David Touhy in Tralee), teacher: Michelle Mangan
• Highly commended: James Dore – Tarbert Comprehensive School (Essay title: Knockanore Mountain and the Hill of Slaughter), teachers: Kevin O’Keefe and Pat Scanlon
North Kerry student Cathal Slattery of Causeway Comprehensive Secondary School has been named the Kerry Young Historian of the Year 2026 at the annual Kerry Young Historian Awards which were held on Thursday evening at Tralee Library. Photo: Michelle Breen Crean PhotographyClaudia Köhler, Kerry County Museum, said: “The Kerry Young Historian Award gives young people the opportunity to become researchers of their own local history. We are delighted to have seven students from schools across Kerry taking part in 2026, and we look forward to celebrating their work at the September ceremony and launching the next year of the award.”
Victoria McCarthy, Architectural Conservation Officer with Kerry County Council, said: “The Kerry Young Historian Award gives students the opportunity to investigate these stories for themselves and develop a deeper connection with their heritage. We are delighted to provide the historians of the future with a platform to share these personal and lesser known Kerry stories with a wider audience.”
The winning essays will be published in Kerry Magazine, the annual publication of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society. Participating schools also receive a free visit to Kerry County Museum or visit by their outreach team, while prize-winning schools are offered a free living-history workshop as part of the annual Architecture Kerry Festival in September.
