“Our Ireland, Our EU” was a national photography competition celebrating how projects co‑funded by the European Union and the Government of Ireland make a difference across Ireland.
The competition encouraged creativity and active citizen participation by inviting members of the public to explore, discover and photograph the real‑life impact of EU co-funding in everyday settings, whether that impact was physical (such as buildings or public spaces) or human (such as learning, skills and inclusion).
Each intervention supported by the EU and the Government has a story to tell and a strong image is invaluable in helping communicate these stories and their impacts to the public. The wining photographs across the categories of physical and people reflect the breath and diversity of the interventions and provide a photographic insight into “Our Ireland, Our EU”
The Competition itself was a new and innovative approach towards increasing the visibility and communicating the benefits of EU Funded activities in Ireland.
The contest was organised by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DPER) and was hosted on eufunds.ie with all costs and prizes being met through EU Technical Assistance.
Entries were submitted under two categories
Category 1: Photographs of an Eligible Location which included physical projects such as buildings, regeneration schemes, and public spaces
- 1st Place “Vigilant Commodore” by Ruth Tapial
- 2nd Place “There’s room here for all of us” by Kartikeya Rana
- 3rd Place “In Am (On Time)” by Jessica Dale
Category 2: Photograph People & Participation, capturing the human impact of projects supporting skills development, fostering social inclusion etc.
- 1st Place “Summer at the Pier” by Claudia Finnerty
- 2nd Place “Interwoven Networks” by Aoife Claffey
- 3rd Place “When robots draw the line” by Dr Alan Magee
The competition ran from 1 May 2026 (launch of the competition) until 30 June 2026 (end of the public vote)
The website had over 13,000 visitors over the course of the competition.
164 entries to the competition were received. Of these, 82 entries met the eligibility criteria and were approved for entry on the competition website.
Over 3,500 voters registered on the platform to vote for their favourite photograph.
The Minister presented prizes to the winners at an event in Government Buildings on Thursday (23 July).