Schools from all over Ireland are invited to register and take part in the 2023 Scratch Competition. Scratch is a visual programming language that makes it easy for young people to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music and art – and share their creations on the web. Scratch is developed by the MIT Media Lab and is available free of charge.

Scratch teaches computational thinking and problem-solving using a powerful yet simple-to-use building block approach to app creation.

Mary Cleary, Secretary General of Irish Computer Society (ICS) said, “Scratch is an ideal introduction to programming for young people, allowing development and sharing of their own interactive stories, games, and animations. Not only does it give young people a flavour of the world of IT and its potential for them to participate in, it helps them to think creatively, solve problems and work collaboratively in the broadest sense.” 

Education and Public Engagement Programme Manager in Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software, Clare McInerney, said, “Scratch is a great tool for giving students the opportunity to build their computational thinking and problem solving skills. We encourage all Scratch enthusiasts to submit their project for the Scratch competition.”   

The Scratch National Final will take place in May of 2023 at the University of Limerick and deadline for project submissions is 16th March 2023.

For more information please see scratch.ics.ie