The following story is extracted from the June 28, 2002 online issue of the Tirconaill Tribune with the kind permission of its publisher, John McAteer.

This is the second time the young Browne Knowe students have been featured on this site, the first being coming after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Congratulations to them, their teachers, and the Tirconaill Tribune for placing its facilities at their disposal. Their school is located near Ramelton in County Donegal.

Browne Knowe Newsletter scoops Ulster award

It is celebration time for the pupils and teachers of Browne Knowe National School near Ramelton who last week scooped the Ulster regional award in the 2002 Mi-Wadi Cultural national awards.

It has been described as one of the biggest scoops of the year by Mi-Wadi given the fact that the Browne Knowe is a small rural school. However, down the years it has won numerous prizes and accolades in national events.

The theme of the competition for this year was 'Publish your own newspaper'. The competition was run in conjunction with the Irish Examiner. Senior primary school children were invited to create a fun newspaper, and the 22 pupils ranging from 3rd to 6th classes at the Browne Knowe school duly obliged.

During their research they spent time studying layout, design and makeup on the computer systems at the Tirconaill Tribune.

The judge for the national competition was Tim Vaughan, who is Editor of the Irish Examiner, and the rest of the adjudication cultural awards panel included Brendan Doody, senior primary schools inspector, and Stephen Cooke who is marketing manager with Mi-Wadi. They opted for the entry from the Browne Knowe saying their newsletter displayed an informative and entertaining mix of news and feature contents from their own locality.

The competition offered the pupils the opportunity to work in an informed and innovative manner in the classroom as part of a normal day at their desks. They were asked to be creative, informative, and to explore the diverse culture and social fabric of their own community.

And adding to the appeal of the production was the fact that the content was presented in a visually appealing and easy to read format. The design, said Mr. Vaughan, was in the classic newspaper tradition. Among the sections covered were news, culture, lifestyle and sport.

The principal teacher at Browne Knowe is Christine Edwards and the assistant teacher is Lorraine Moore.

Accompanying the pupils to Dublin for the awards ceremony were members of the Board of management and the parents committee. They included Sidney Roulston who is Chairman of the BOM, and parents committee representatives Margaret Hamilton and Bernie Green.

The Browne Knowe pupils and their teachers travelled to the National Print Museum at Beggars Bush in Dublin on last Thursday for the announcement of the results and they were overjoyed when their newsletter was chosen.

The competition is a 32-county one, and the awards are designed to work in combination with the primary school curriculum.

Who knows that some day one of the young editorial team from the Browne Knowe could end up editing the Tribune!

Speaking at the presentation, Ms Anne O'Leary commented that in the six years since the competition was launched it had become one of the most popular and rewarding primary school competitions.

"We are particularly pleased to hear from the participating pupils and teachers that these awards brought the children together to participate in, and learn from group work in the creation and publication of their newspapers - with such an impressive level of group work, interaction and exchange of creative ideas," she said. "I am sure we have found some of the bright young journalists of the future."