Cookstown's Phoenix Integrated Primary School celebrates success at 2025 Carson Awards
The Carson Awards Showcase is an annual event which celebrates the creative talent of Integrated pupils by exhibiting the amazing projects they have been working on over the past year.
Phoenix Integrated Primary School (IPS) in Cookstown was presented with Joint First Prize in Key Stage One at this year’s Showcase.
The Integrated Education Fund (IEF) is delighted that Dan Gordon, renowned actor, director and playwright from Belfast, kindly gave his time to host this very special celebration event at New-Bridge Integrated College (IC) 23 October. Dan wrote and performed the acclaimed one-man show ‘A Rebel without a Pause’, which told the story of late comedian and Carson Awards-founder Frank Carson.
Host Dan Gordon said: “I am delighted to host the annual Carson Awards Showcase this year. The Carson Awards Showcase offer a fantastic opportunity for young people to express themselves creatively under the theme of ‘What Integrated Education Means to Me’. As an actor, director and playwright, I have been so impressed by the wide variety of innovative projects on display. The Carson Awards Showcase shows the potential and offers a glimpse into a very bright future for the next generation.”
The Carson Bursary grant programme and Carson Awards were generously started by late comedian and Integrated Education supporter Frank Carson, along with his son Tony Carson in 2008. The Carson Awards Showcase gives those who have received a Carson Bursary or won a Carson Award the opportunity to show their creative projects. This year it felt fitting to hold the event in New-Bridge IC in Loughbrickland, a school which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary and which has fostered creativity through participation in the Carson Awards over many years.
Phoenix IPS received Joint Prize in Key Stage One for their film made by Year Four called ‘Celebrating Cultural Connections through Playground Games.’ This project shows Phoenix IPS’s ongoing commitment to working in an environment that holds tightly to the Integrated ethos, recognising and celebrating each and every individual, respecting all cultures and religions.
Paul Caskey OBE, Chief Executive at the IEF, added: ‘The IEF are delighted to be celebrating the 18th year of the Carson Awards. The variety and quality of entries never ceases to amaze. We want to congratulate Phoenix IPS on their fabulous project and film on ‘Celebrating Cultural Connections through Playground Games’, which was a worthy winner of Joint First Prize for Key Stage One. Given the high level of entries this year, Phoenix IPS should be extremely proud of their achievement.
The IEF also wants to thank Tony Carson for his continued support for the Carson Awards, which is a fitting tribute to the legacy of our friend and supporter Frank Carson.
For more information on the Carson bursary programme and Carson Awards please visit: https://www.ief.org.uk/our-work/grants/carson-awards/
The IEF is an independent charity that targets financial support for the development and growth of Integrated Education. Our aim is to enable children to learn together in an environment that celebrates religious and cultural diversity, making integration, not separation, the norm in the Northern Ireland education system.