Celebrating Inspirational and Creative Women

The celebration of St Brigid’s Day, on the 1st February, was chosen by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs as a new and innovative way to showcase the work of trailblazing, inspirational Irish women who are making their mark across a range of fields.

The St Brigid’s Day celebrations aim to promote a modern, positive image of Ireland internationally, while showcasing the Department’s commitment to diversity and gender equality by celebrating the achievements of women, a traditionally under-represented group.

To celebrate St Brigid’s Day, we will run a joint social media campaign across 6 missions in Southeast Asia where members of the public could nominate inspirational and/or creative women they know personally across social media as part of a regional competition. As part of the nomination, members of the public will need to share the story of how and/or why the woman they’ve selected for the entry is inspiring to them, trail blazingly creative, or has impacted lives in a significant way. These stories can be told through photos or short video clips on social media.

Aside from the winning entry voted by the public across Southeast Asia, we will also be awarding prizes to the top 2 local entries (finalist and runner-up) as selected by each mission. In addition to the competition, we will also be highlighting the achievements of both Asian and Irish women through a series of posts and videos throughout this campaign. The majority of these assets will run from mid-Feb onward.

In view of regional holidays around this period, this campaign will be launched on 31 January and will run until early March to coincide with International Women’s Day; this would create a month of Southeast Asian missions celebrating women and their achievements in all its forms.
Schedule for the SBD Competition Open submissions 31 Jan – 20 Feb (3 weeks)

Public Vote for the Winning Submission 28 Feb – 6 Mar (1 week)
Winner announcement – 9 March