The 2011/2012 DkIT Sports & Societies Awards Evening took place in the Crowne Plaza on Thursday 29th March 2012, with over 40 sports and societies, over 200 guests, attending the Black Tie Event.

The awards night is to acknowledge and recognise students, staff and individuals for their contribution and dedication to the DkIT Sports & Societies.

This is Dundalk IT’s 6th Annual Awards Night, with our Guest Speaker, Mr Seaghan Kearney, presenting the main awards on the evening.

DkIT Sports & Societies Officer, Ciara Patterson, hosted the evening. Ciara started the evening by inviting the winning College Team captains to bring their trophies to the front. These include:

Hurling Team – Division 3 All-Ireland League Winners

Basketball Team – 2011/2012 Fresher’s Plate Winners

Table Tennis Team – 2011/2012 All-Ireland Table Tennis Winners

Pool Team – 2011/2012 CUSAI Pool League Winners

Camogie Team – 2011/2012 All-Ireland Division 3 Winners & 2011/2012 Championship Winners

DkIT President, Mr Denis Cummins, said a few words and thanked all in attendance for being involved in DkIT’s Sports & Societies and for their hard work and commitment to their chosen sport or society.

Our guest speaker, Seaghan Kearney, spoke about his encounter with death, ‘Sudden Adult Death Syndrome’ and about ‘How a Defibrillator saved his life’, all of which was caught on CCTV, this gave the Dundalk IT students food for thought on what first aid equipment they have close to hand.

After Seaghan had spoken, the Main Awards of the Evening were presented.

Society Award Winners

Best Media Production by a Society – DJ Society & Media Society

Best Fresher within a Society – Gary Stanley from the Society of Young Surveyors

Best New or Improved Society – DJ Society

Best Individual within a Society – Keith Brady (DJ Society)

Best Overall Society - Gaming Society

Sports Awards Winners

Best Administrator within a Sports Club – Niall Kearns (Fencing) & Damien Whelan (GAA)

Best New or Improved Sports Club: Pool Club

Coach of the Year: Martin Connolly (Soccer)

Sports Club of the Year - Archery Club

Sportsperson of the Year: Elaine Finn (Ladies Gaelic Football) & Aine Keogh (Camogie)

On the night some small individual achievement Awards within their clubs and societies were also awarded and presented by the Sports & Societies Placement Students, Ciara Fay and Aisling Smyth.

Individual Achievement Awards 2012

1. Sean Gileece- Laptop Music Production Society

2. Ross Shannon- Laptop Music Production Society

3. Sajjad Haider- Table Tennis

4. Robert McCabe- Fresher’s Gaelic Football

5. Paddy O’rourke- GAA club senior Gaelic football

6. Brian Fitzpatrick- Ladies Gaelic football

7. Shaunna Curtis- GAA club/Gaelic football/ hurling and camogie

8. Daire Lawless- Kickboxing

9. Damien Carberry- Pool Club

10. Cian Lambe- POOL club

11. Jennifer Maguire- Hip Hop

12. Sofia Aarola- Ladies Rugby

13. Jarleth Brennan- Men’s Rugby Club

14. Avril O’Driscoll- Surf Club

15. Kevin McCardle- Men’s Soccer

16. Dmitry Starcenko- Break dancing

17. Stefan Ponik- Break dancing/ Volleyball

18. Mary Kate Lynch- Veterinary Nursing Society

19. Samantha King- LGBT

20. Amy Fitzpatrick- Archery

21. David Maine – Archery

22. Michael Murphy- Console Gaming Society

23. Tadhg Deeney- Console Gaming Society

24. Martin Fitzpatrick- Media Society

25. Iarla O’Neill- Media Society

26. Ruth Mawhinney- Christian Union

27. Marion Boyeau- Irish Dancing

28. Sunil Kumar- Cricket Club

29. Zhao Tang- Badminton

30. Aaron Lawless- Basketball

31. Dermot Hoey- Airsoft

32. Ceara Daly Carney- Fencing

33. Gary Stanley- Society of young Surveyors

34. Paul McGeown- Christian Union

I would like to thanks all the speakers on the evening and all the Dundalk IT students for their involvement and dedication to their Sports clubs and societies in 2011/2012.