November 2013 NUI Galway Becomes First Third-Level Institution to Win prestigious Appy Award

App aimed at Leaving Certificate students launched in August 2013

NUI Galway scooped a major award at the prestigious Appy Awards, which took place in Dublin last night (Thursday, 21 November). The University took home a Bronze Award in the ‘Best Educational App’ category for their iPoints app, and was shortlisted in the ‘Best Productivity App’ category.

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 been downloaded over 6,000 times.

The winning entries are judged on the overall strategy, campaign execution, design, innovation and results. With stiff competition within each category, NUI Galway was the only higher education institution to be shortlisted and the first third-level institution to win an Appy award. Past winners for these awards have included brands such as Vodafone, Sky, TV3, The Journal.ie and Facebook.

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.

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 a hotly contested category. 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 annual Appy Awards celebrate the very best in app development and design. The 2013 Appy Awards received a bumper number of exceptionally high quality apps in this year’s awards programme.

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

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