Battle for ‘coolest’ project title

The best and brightest of Ireland’s young coders are set to battle it out this weekend to win the title of CoderDojo Coolest Project.

The projects cover everything from apps and websites to games and online businesses, and pit Irish participants against entries from clubs around Europe. More than 250 projects will be presented to the panel of judges at the Helix in Dublin on Saturday, who will judge them on their complexity and usability, in addition to their "cool factor".

This year's participants are hoping to follow in the footsteps of 10-year-old Ryan Sheridan, who won last year's competition with a site that provided details and images of skating facilities around Dublin.

Among this year’s entries from the local coding clubs are an alarm system that will send intruder alerts over the internet, an app to show the charging points for ecars and how long they have been in use, and an app that allows people to report potholes in their area.

Other entries range from the topical – an app that monitors water usage, for example – to a livestock management database.