We are passionate about the communities we live, work, and operate. To recognise the work of teachers across Northern Ireland during the pandemic, we partnered with Belfast Live to find the first Power NI Teaching Hero.
The initiative aimed to reward a teacher who had gone over and beyond during the duration of teaching during the pandemic.
Receiving over 400 entries, the judging panel had the hard job of finding the worthy winner as the entries were of such a high quality. The judges were the legendary Olympian & ex-teacher Lady Mary Peters, Queen’s University senior education lecturer Lesley Emerson, Belfast Live’s Editor Ryan Smith and Power NI staff members Gwyneth Compston & Gemma-Louise Bond.
The winner was Joanne Quinn, English & Media Studies' teacher at Hazelwood College, North Belfast. Miss Quinn was nominated by three of her sixth form students.
On winning her award, Joanne commented:
“I’m very humbled. There are so many fantastic teachers out there and it is much more than a job - it's a vocation.
Teaching has definitely come through the wars in the past couple of months. We want to feel the buzz of the classroom, so to be thrust into this online world where you just had to teach yourself was quite daunting.”
Joanne and her school both received £1000 to each from Power NI.
The Power NI Teaching Hero is one of many initiatives we run to support communities across Northern Ireland.
Learn more about our Community work
