HOLY Cross College has been short-listed for the ECO-UNESCO's Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA) 2007, it has been revealed this week.

Elaine Nevin, ECO-UNESCO's National Director, visited the project last week for final judging. The group will take part in the YEA Showcase and ceremony on the 21st May to be held in the Round Room of the Mansion House, in Dublin.

"We have to start tackling our environmental issues and young people's participation in environmental action projects is one way of doing this," stated Elaine Nevin, National Director of ECO-UNESCO.

The school has been short-listed for the national awards scheme and competes in the Junior Waste Category with the project 'Bottles Galore'. This group from Holy Cross College wanted to tackle the waste issue in their school by reducing litter and taking a creative approach to raise awareness about the need to recycle plastic bottles. A questionnaire was sent to pupils to assess their awareness of environmental issues, after taking a vote they decided to raise awareness by designing a sculpture out of reused plastic bottles, which was displayed in a prominent location in the school.

The groups submitted designs, which were assessed by technology and design teachers. After picking their design they got to work. To further raise awareness the group developed a PowerPoint presentation and spoke at assembly and visited classes to talk about waste issues in the school. They put bags in classrooms for plastic bottle recycling and contacted Strabane District Council who allocated them with a bin.

Each year ECO-UNESCO, Ireland's environmental education and youth organisation, honours young people who take part in environmental projects, which protect their local environment, prevent environmental damage and promote environmental awareness. Since 1999, the YEA have attracted the participation of over 8,000 young people and reached countless others with awareness raising campaigns in over 750 schools and communities in Ireland.