Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition

Certified Irish Angus School Finalist Booklet 2026

Applications are open for the 2026/2027 competition.

 

  • Entries for the competition are now open.
  • We will be at the National Ploughing Championships in September in Screggan, Co Offaly to explain more about the competition entry process for the coming year.
  • Keep an eye on our social media to learn more about our finalists that will get their calves at the National Ploughing Championships to find out how you can improve your entry and win your own cattle next year.
  • Enter using the button below

Interested in taking part?

          1. Talk to your friends and decide who is on your team.
          2. Decide what topical area of Agriculture/Agri Food you would like to focus on as a group.
          3. Make sure to keep an eye on the work we are doing and how that would link to a topic that you decide on.
          4. Research your topic and layout for your video. Talk to farmers, your friends, teachers to get their opinion on your topic.
          5. Record your video, send it to us and fill out the application form below.

If you would like to know more about the competition please get in touch schools@certifiedirishangus.ie.

Competition Background

This exciting competition, which we run with our partners ABP and Kepak, challenges students to rear five Irish Angus calves over 18 months while completing a research project. The initiative aims to promote the Certified Irish Angus brand while educating students about the care and attention required to produce quality beef for consumers.

The organisers seek applicants who are eager to learn and have a willingness to engage in all activities from being outdoors, caring for animals to events with Agri-industry experts

 

 

Who can enter the competition?

  • The students get the opportunity to meet and present their ideas to industry experts from the likes of Bord Bia, ABP & Kepak, Tesco, Department of Agriculture, Irish M.E.P.'s and European Union officials.

  • Each group that wins calves benefits from the proceeds raised through the sale of the animals at the end of the competition. The overall winners also receive a bursary towards further education.

  • With the new Agricultural Science course project for Leaving Cert this competition also offers students a ready made topic for their research project in their 5 Angus Cattle and access to industry experts for advice and guidance.

  • Students get to understand the range of career opportunities that are available across the Agri-Food Industry from farm to fork and meet industry leaders about their journey of how they got to where they are today.

What topic should you choose

  • The first step is this competition isn’t strictly an Agricultural based competition. Yes that is the base for it but you can focus on any topic related to farming, Agri – food, consumers views on beef, beef in the diet of young people/sports people. Agricultural topics like farm health and safety, Multi species swards, animal health, Biodiversity on farms, succession, water quality etc… Given that the competition is so broad it does mean that the options are endless for the opportunities that the groups can choose.
  • Start by finding an area you are interested in it helps because researching and coming up with a plan is easier when you like what you are doing.
  • Chat with farmers, teachers or other students about what the issue they face with farming and what solution would work to solve that issue. After that you can start to record your video. You can follow the layout below but be creative and put your own unique spin on things.
    1. We are the team from….. school and our names are….
    2. “Farm succession is a problem we have identified for beef farmers”
    3. “it is an important area because……..”
    4. “ from talking to other local farmers/parents/students in our school/industry expert X we learned that ……. We spoke with local farmers at the mart and …….. * Relate the idea back to one of the 3 pillars of sustainability(Social, Environmental and/or Economic)
    5. “If we are successful we plan on creating an information booklet for farmers and host a talk in our school & mart to promote farm succession and how Angus cattle can help young farmers as they offer a premium above regular cattle.

     

Competition stages

timeline_pre_loader

Read about our previous competition winners here.