Irish Association Video Competition Awards Ceremony

The inaugural Irish Association of Korea (IAK) Video competition awards were held on Friday 06 March and were hosted by the Embassy in the newly configured conference room.

The awards ceremony was designed to give special recognition to the winning entrants of the IAK 'Send me to Ireland' video competition which was supported by the Departments Asia Markets Fund, Etihad Airlines and the Emerald Cultural Institute Dublin (ECI).

The objective of the competition was to raise awareness among young Korean people of Ireland as a travel and English language education destination.

The Grand prize winner of the competition won 4 weeks tuition at the ECI and roundtrip airfare courtesy of Etihad airways. The competition runners up won cultural prizes and book vouchers.

Among the attendees at the video competition were representatives from the Korean media, Irish Association, Etihad Airlines and Kyunghee University. Representatives from the Grand prize Winners University, Associate Professor Casey Barnes and the Head of the English Department at the Institute of International Education at Kyunghee University Jenny Park received a book donation of Irish literature from Ambassador O'Donoghue to be housed in the Universities English library.

With over 60 entries received, this year’s newly formatted and reinvigorated video competition attracted even greater attention and wider participation from Korea’s universities. The awards ceremony also acted as an important public diplomacy and outreach initiative to the one of Seoul’s most prestigious private universities.