App aimed at Leaving Certificate students launched in August 2013

NUI Galway scooped a major award at the prestigious Digital Media Awards, which took place recently in Dublin. Ireland’s best and brightest from the world of digital media were celebrated at the 2014 Samsung Digital Media Awards. The University won Bronze in the hotly contested ‘Best Use of Mobile’ category for their iPoints app.

The NUI Galway iPoints app is the first official third-level app designed for students to calculate Leaving Certificate points. The free app was launched in August 2013, ahead of Leaving Certificate results being released and has since been downloaded over 6,000 times.

The winning entries are judged on the overall strategy, objectives, design, innovation and results. NUI Galway was the only higher education institution to be shortlisted. NUI Galway were shortlisted in three categories, ‘Best Use of Mobile’, ‘Best Social Media Campaign’ and ‘Best App’, and were delighted to win Bronze in the contested ‘Best Use of Mobile’ category, surpassing both the Bulmers and Eircom brands.

NUI Galway, in partnership with former information technology student Paul Herron, developed the iPhone app. Students using the app can simply enter their results for each subject, indicating whether it is higher or ordinary level and the app calculates the number of points attained in each subject, and indicates the total. The app calculates 25 additional points to be added for Higher Maths if relevant, and allows for Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) scores to be included.

The annual Digital Media Awards celebrate the very best in Online Marketing. Commenting on the awards, Caroline Loughnane, Director of Marketing and Communications at NUI Galway, said “We are delighted to have done so well in such hotly contested categories. The key objective for NUI Galway was to provide a useful app that allows Leaving Certificate students to quickly and easily calculate their points when they receive their exam results.” 

The NUI Galway iPoints app is available for all iPhone users on the iTunes store www.tinyurl.com/NUIGalwayApp.

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