The Kerry Young Historian Award 2024 – Call for participation

The Kerry Young Historian Award is an annual initiative open to all Kerry secondary schools and all Kerry students aged 12 to 19. It is a joint project of the erry Archaeological and Historical Society, Kerry County Museum and Kerry County Council and kindly supported by The Education Centre Tralee and The History Teachers’ Association of Ireland, Kerry branch.

The purpose of the award is to encourage participants to research and write about a local history topic in a personal, interesting and critical way with a special focus on some of Kerry’s untold stories. The award aims to encourage and produce the historians of the future as well as engaging young people in local history, archaeology and heritage.

Award Prize: Winning essays will be published in The Kerry Magazine, an annual publication by The Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society. Each participating school will receive a voucher from Kerry County Museum for a free visit or outreach visit to the school. Prize winning schools in the Junior and Senior categories will be guaranteed a free living history workshop as part of the Architecture Kerry Festival in September 2024.

Competition opens: Autumn 2023
Deadline for submissions of essays: Friday 29 March 2024

For further information or to express your interest please contact project managers Victoria McCarthy and Claudia Kohler at education@kerryhistory.ie

 066 7127777 

Award Ceremony September 2023

In a joint event by Kerry County Museum, Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society and Kerry County Council as part of Architecture Kerry 2023, Kieran Cahill, a graduate of CBS, Tralee was presented with the overall Kerry Young Historian Award by Jimmy Deenihan at the museum on 27th September. Awards were also presented in the junior, senior and highly commended categories to Anna O’ Mahony, Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, Rathmore, Aaron Harty, Mercy Mounthawk, Lauren Coffey, Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland, Rory O’ Flaherty, Mercy Mounthawk, Niamh O’ Donnell, Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland, Siobhan Griffin, Mercy Mounthawk, Edel O’ Donoghue, Presentation Seconday School, Castleisland and Adam Lucid, Castleisland Community College (absent). Also in the photo are Claudia Kohler, Kerry County Museum, Victoria McCarthy, Kerry County Council, Tony Bergin and Edel Codd from Kerry Archeological and Historical Society. Photos: Pauline Dennigan

Classroom Resources: Get your local history project started with six Short Heritage Tutorials on how to research your locality

Click on each title to view short video:

Tom Dillon, Historian and Kerry Historian in Residence 2020: The Importance of Local History [Duration: 3 mins]

Tom Dillon, Historian and Kerry Historian in Residence 2020: The Importance of Sources [Duration: 3 mins]

Dr. Michael Connolly, Kerry County Archaeologist: Researching a Monument in your Locality [Duration: 6 mins]

Dr. Michael Connolly, Kerry County Archaeologist: The Job of a County Archaeologist [Duration: 5 mins]

Victoria McCarthy, Kerry Architectural Conservation Officer: Researching a Building in your Locality [4 mins]

Helen O’Carroll, Curator and Manager of Kerry County Museum: Researching an Object [Duration: 5 mins]

All six History and Heritage Tutorials in one document: Download PDF

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