Winners of the 2009 Challenging Stereotypes Creative Competition Announced
Posted on: 11 June 2009
The winners of this year’s Trinity College Dublin Challenging Stereotypes Creative Competition were Rosaleen McDonagh in first place in the student category for her text entry ‘Consanguinity’ and in the staff category, Helen Fisher won first place for her text entry entitled ‘Bernadette’ and Florence Dowling was a runner up for the photograph ‘Sweet Diversity’.
The Challenging Stereotypes Creative competition is held locally in each university and the finalists proceed to the intervarsity judging. This year participants were asked to submit a text or visual entry, challenging stereotypes in relation to the nine equality grounds: gender, age, religion, ethnicity, disability, marital status, family status, sexual orientation and membership of the Traveller community. The aim of the competition is to challenge stereotypes and foster a positive approach to diversity within College and in the University sector as a whole. The overall intervarsity winners were announced at the Equality Authority on April 30th last.
“It was heartening to see the very considerable increase in participation from across College and the panel was impressed at the range of themes that were represented in the competition,” stated Chair of the Trinity Equality Committee and competition judge, Dr Sinead Ryan of the School of Mathematics. “The diversity and quality of the entries stimulated discussion amongst the panel and made for a challenging but rewarding judging process. The winning entries attracted the panel’s attention with unexpected observations, eye-catching graphics and thoughtful prose that went to the heart of the Challenging Stereotypes competition. It was a pleasure to be involved”.
Provost Dr John Hegarty with Rosaleen McDonagh and Florence Dowling.
Trinity College’s Equality Officer, Karen Campus said: “There is a link between stereotyping and the inequalities experienced by groups in terms of how they are treated by society. Through images and perpetuating myths stereotyping shapes our assumptions and expectations of certain groups can be used to justify social inequalities or even lead to discrimination. This competition provides an opportunity to challenge our perceptions and expectations focussing on the nine equality grounds. It is an opportunity to raise a positive awareness of the diversity of staff and students in College and foster a collegiate environment.”
The TCD judging panel, Chair of the Equality Committee, Dr Sinead Ryan, Student Union Welfare Officer, Orlaith Foley and Professor of English, Stephen Matterson, considered staff and student entries, and welcomed the increased participation in this second creative competition sponsored by the Equality Authority and the IUA Equality and Diversity Group.
The IUA Equality and Diversity Group, constituted in 2007, is comprised of Equality Officers from the universities in the Republic of Ireland and meets regularly to share good practice and develop joint initiatives, including this competition. The Equality Authority is the coordinator of the European Year of Equal Opportunities For All Legacy Funding, which has enabled this initiative.