The judge of the Irish finals of the Junior Achievement young entrepreneurs competition, Cathal Daly from sponsors Citi, with Sign4Life team members Colleen Mullane, Ciara Reidy, Caoimhe O'Neill and Fiona Mangan as they prepared to compete in Bucharest
A team of secondary students from Co Limerick have taken a top European award in Bucharest for their sign-language app.
The five students from Salesian College in Pallaskenry, Co Limerick, took the top prize in Company of the Year 2012, beating teams from 32 countries.
The European competition is run by not-for-profit organisation Junior Achievement.
Their “Sign4Life” Android app teaches sign language using video technology.
It includes an introduction, an alphabet and signing video-clips for some 100 words, with signing done by two members of the Deaf Community Centre in Limerick.
The team say the template can be adapted to any international language.
The principal of their school, Paddy O’Neill, earlier paid tribute to Geoffrey Blondelle from Dell, who guided the team on setting up their company and developing their product.
“Dell also very kindly hosted a ‘Dragons Den’ where the group were put through their paces in preparation for the final,” he said. “I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank both Geoffrey and Dell for their support of Junior Achievement and in turn their valuable contribution to our school.”
To download the app, go to the Google Play store and search for “Irish sign language”.
