Joanne O’Riordan – Young Person of the Year

A huge congratulations to Joanne O’Riordan who won the Young Person of the Year Award in Dublin last Saturday:

“Joanne O’Riordan, Young Person of the Year, for her determination in highlighting the challenges faced by people with disabilities today. 16-year-old Joanne was born with a rare condition – total amelia syndrome, leaving her without arms and legs, and is one of just seven people in the world with the condition. In April, Joanne was invited to New York to deliver the keynote address at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union’s conference, Girls in Technology. At the conference, she challenged leading women in their field to build her a robot. Joanne was presented with her award by singer/musician Niall Breslin, AKA Bressie.”

Watch the full People of the Year Awards Ceremony on RTE Player (Joanne is on from 46:25 to 52:45. Available until October 6th)

On her success Joanne said “I’m delighted to have won the award, you have people here like Katie Taylor and the people from Union Hall and there’s me in the middle. Katie is one of my role models, so if people look up to me they look up to her too. I asked Katie if she’d like to appear in my film and she said she’d come down, so that’s exciting.”

Articles on her award:

• RTÉ: People of the Year Awards Announced
• Irish Examiner: Joanne Set to Party in Dáil with Enda and Katie
• The Sun: Joanne Ya Good Thing
• The Journal.ie: Katie and Joanne named People of the Year
• The Irish Times: Heroes at national and community levels honoured in emotional ceremony
• Irish Independent: Stars come out to honour our people of the year
• Evening Echo: Cork heroes honoured for outstanding efforts
• Joanne on Twitter