One of the pictures from Joseph Walsh's portfolio

Snap happy Joseph wins national photography award!

A 17-year old Transition Year student at Killina Secondary School is this week celebrating the winning of a national photography award in the prestigious GAA Future Leaders Programme.

Joseph Walsh is one of three students from the school to scoop national awards in the competition, which attracted entries from Transition Year students in more than 260 secondary schools around the country.

Katie Hennessy and Niamh Fenlon were chosen as overall winners of the Event Management competition, while a fourth TY student, Emma Dolan, was one of a number of winners in the Nutrition category.

This is the first year that Killina school took part in the Future Leaders Transition Year Programme, which rewards students who have excelled in a number of modules such as refereeing; administration; sports journalism; event management and nutrition, and there were great celebrations in the school this week when it emerged that four students are listed among the overall winners.

Joseph Walsh, who scooped the national award for photography in the Sports Journalism category, submitted a collage of pictures he took at a GoGames football blitz involving local primary schools which took place in Killina school earlier this year. A keen amateur photographer since he bought his first camera with his Confirmation money at 12 years of age, Joseph, who is from the Clara Road in Tullamore, regularly takes photographs at school events in Killina and as part of his prize he will shadow an official photographer pitch side during the Leinster Hurling Final in Croke Park on June 30 next, which he is really looking forward to.

Joseph's fellow Transition Year students, Katie Hennessy and Niamh Fenlon will also travel to Croke Park on June 30 next for the Leinster Hurling Final where they will get the opportunity to shadow the Event Management team as part of their prize for winning the national award in the Event Management category of the GAA Future Leaders Programme.

Meanwhile, the fourth Killina winnner, Emma Dolan, will get the chance to work alongside a Nutritionist with an inter-county GAA team for one day during the summer.

The four award-winning students would like to thank the teachers on the TY programme in Killina who provided guidance and instruction throughout the Future Leaders Programme over the past year.