TU Dublin hosts Maths Eyes prizegiving
The annual prizegiving for the Maths Eyes competition was hosted by the School of Mathematics & Statistics, TU Dublin, at our Grangegorman location on Thursday 25 May. The Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD presented the prizes to the well-deserving winners.
Maths Eyes is entering its 12th year and has grown steadily since it originated in TU Dublin's Tallaght location in 2011. It engages hundreds of young people in the exploration and appreciation of mathematics in the everyday sights around us. As part of the national MathsWeek events, Maths Eyes asks young people to capture and submit photographs that show the mathematical shapes or concepts that are all around us and with which we interact every day. The prizegiving ceremony rewards the 30 shortlisted individuals or teams who are selected by a panel of judges for the originality, humour, insight or pure joy of maths shown in their entries. The competition is designed to demonstrate that everyone engages with mathematics on a daily basis and challenges the misconception that what we routinely can see and do is common sense but the tasks that are difficult are mathematics. We all have Maths Eyes and the ability to do maths!
In presenting the prizes at the 11th annual Have you got Maths Eyes? competition, the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, spoke individually to the recipients and hailed the collaboration* between TU Dublin, MathsWeek, SETU and the many schools and community partners involved, and the dedication of so many teachers, parents, families, guardians and organisers in supporting and developing young mathematical talent and enthusiasm. Prizes were awarded across 6 categories and overall winners were identified for each category. Prize winners came from across the country including counties Donegal, Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Carlow, Tipperary, Mayo, Roscommon and Clare.
The School would like to congratulate not only everyone who won a prize but also all those that participated in Maths Eyes and we hope that everyone will participate again in Maths Eyes 2023!
The winning Maths Eyes posters will be exhibited nationwide and will, in the future, feature on the Maths Eyes website as a valuable resource.
*Maths Eyes is a collaboration between TU Dublin, Maths Week, SETU, and the Dublin West Education Centre, initiated by Terry Maguire in 2003, and the Have you got Maths Eyes? competition, running since 2013, would not have been possible without the direction and hard work of Ciaran O'Sullivan and Aisling McGlinchey of the School of Mathematics & Statistics, in association with TU Dublin colleagues and external partners including Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan amongst others.