Students from Mount Lourdes Grammar School in Fermanagh, Cookstown High School and St. Patrick’s Academy in Dungannon, Tyrone took part in the national final of the 18th All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad. The event occurred at Dublin City University on March 4.

Ellie Smyth from Mount Lourdes Grammar School represented Fermanagh at the competition. The 100 finalists came from 56 secondary schools across 20 counties on the island.

Organizers ran the contest through a preliminary round earlier this year with nearly 1,000 participants in schools. Finalists competed for spots to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Bucharest, Romania in July.

ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-driven Digital Content Technology, hosted the event. Participants used logic and reasoning to decode unfamiliar languages by analyzing given data to determine rules.

Professor John Kelleher, Director of ADAPT, stated the competition shows the analytical ability, curiosity and capability of young people on the island. He noted that finalists displayed exceptional problem-solving skills applicable to careers in computing, linguistics and data-driven research.