Students from Palmerstown community school in Dublin were yesterday presented with the special judges award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards in Cork.
Neil Burke, Anthony Maine and Donal Mooney received the award for their show of solidarity with schoolmate Olukunle Elukanlo, during the time of his deportation from Ireland to Nigeria in March and his subsequent return, just months before he was due to sit his Leaving Cert.
Six other awards were also presented from a shortlist of 31 entries.
The broadcast prize went to Adewumi Oke for his multicultural radio show, The Rainbow on KCLR 96FM on which community groups discuss issues affecting them. The print award went to the Drogheda Independent for the New Arrivals column which focuses on the daily lives of new arrivals in the Louth town.
The visual prize was awarded to Frank Hand's film Ar Dhá Thrá which is based on an Irish/Egyptian family's life in Connemara, Co Galway.
In the multicultural category, Weziwe Olubuunor won the individual prize for her work with Waterford Against Racism and the Waterford Refugee and Asylum Seeker Council, which she set up in 2002.
Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group won the group prize for their video Myth Busters which challenges the general prejudices against Travellers.
The institution prize went to the General Practice in a Multicultural Society Project. It addresses the training and education of GPs with regard to the provision of services for refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers.
Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, chaired the judging panel. There were 105 entries in seven categories.