Supercoders wanted: Virgin Media sponsoring the “Future Makers Awards”

Virgin Media have today announced the launch of the Europe-wide initiative “Future Makers Awards” to mark Europe Code Week (15 – 23 October 2016). The competition is calling on young Irish people aged between 10 and 17 to submit their innovative ideas that can bring about positive social change in their communities using technology and coding.

Coding is the language of the future as it is at the core of digitisation. The earlier youngsters take an interest in coding, the easier it will be for them to find their way in the digital world. With the Europe-wide Future Makers Awards Virgin Media want to inspire Irish children and young people to get involved with the language of the future – after all coding is great fun and an essential skill for future development,” says Tony Hanway Virgin Media CEO.

The “Future Makers Awards” were created together with the worldwide CoderDojo movement, which organises free coding clubs around the world. From today, participants have six weeks to develop their projects. The supercoders have until 1 December to send their applications and a presentation video to futuremakers@coderdojo.com. In February 2017 the best ideas in the 10 to 13 and 14 to 17 age groups will be recognised. Talented young coders can find further information and the application form under: www.coderdojo.com/futuremakers.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Virgin Media to empower even more children to make the future with code. The premise of the Future Makers Awards, inspiring young people to use their coding and tech skills for social good, is a core part of the CoderDojo ethos. Technology can be a fundamental force for social change, through encouraging youths to use their digital making skills to create positive change in their local communities we are ensuring that future is bright for generations to come!“, said Giustina Mizzoni, Executive Director, CoderDojo Foundation.

The Future Makers Awards are part of a European group-wide initiative to encourage young people to discover coding and in doing so introduce them to the world of digital technology.