St. Joseph’s Presentation Secondary School pupil, Lorraine Hanrahan from Scartaglin has been invited to an awards ceremony in Dublin on Monday, March 14th.
The invitation arose when Lorraine’s artistic eye and photographic skills combined and she entered a photograph she took at home in the Press Pass competition.
Lorraine’s photograph has been shortlisted for the photojournalism section of the competition and she will travel to the Convention Centre in Dublin to attend the awards ceremony.
Mobile Phone Photograph
The selection of her photograph is an acknowledgement of the advance of mobile phone technology. It was this omni-present device with which she composed and took her much admired shot. However, without ability to see the possibility of the picture and the combination of the all important line from the story – it may well have been starved of the light of the creative eye and darkened forever as the words on the pages when the book was closed.
“I have an interest in art and photography so I feel this benefited me when I was in the process of taking my photo,” Lorraine explained.
The Best of Me
“The idea behind the picture developed from the book ‘The Best of Me’ by Nicholas Sparks – which is what I was reading at the time.
“It’s a tragic and heart-rending love story about two former high-school loves from two completely different backgrounds, who were forced to leave one another.
“Years later they reunite and realise their love for one another. I feel that this book greatly inspired the idea behind the picture with the book, ring and heart shaped shadow. There was a line in the book ‘He’d never stopped loving her’ and I felt that it fitted perfectly with the concept of the picture.
“The ring that I used in the photo is my mother’s engagement ring and it made a personal link to the photo. To create the unique heart shadow, I experimented with the light from my desk lamp and when it was in the right position, it created the perfect heart shaped shadow on the book,” said Lorraine.
Press Pass – the initiative was launched by NewsBrands Ireland in 2012. It was developed in consultation with the Department of Education and was launched by the then Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn TD.
News Media Agenda
The 420 schools in Ireland, with participating Transition Year classes, were invited to participate. In the first year, 255 schools signed up, increasing to over 300 schools in its second and third years. To date, almost 50,000 Transition Year students around the country have taken part in the initiative.
It has the potential to improve students’ reading and writing skills while also encouraging them to examine and discuss the events that are shaping the news media agenda.
Outlining the role of the competition in participating schools, Presentation Principal, Katerina Broderick said that it gives students a better understanding of how newspapers work, their role in society and what shapes the news agenda.
Sunday Newspapers
“Through this initiative, we received a selection of daily and Sunday newspapers which the students used during class.
“They also received a Press Pass guidebook, designed to give students a better understanding of how news organisations work by focusing on five main areas: news, features, comment, photojournalism and sport,” said Ms. Broderick.
Ms. Broderick, along with the management and staff of ‘The Pres’ are delighted for Lorraine and proud of her achievement to date and they wish her well on awards ceremony day in Dublin on Monday week. Lorraine is daughter of Moss and Sheila Hanrahan of Scartaglin and, most definately, of the historic, West Limerick town of Glin.
