SHINE started in 2018, when The Shona Project partnered with Beat 102-103 to bring 350 transition year students together to hear from a panel of 8 speakers. We never expected how amazing that day would be, and our eardrums took weeks to recover!

In 2019, it got even louder, and we brought 1,000 girls together to sing, laugh, cry and blow bubbles together, you can watch those highlights here. It was even filmed as part of an RTE Docu-series called  “Changing Ireland”.

2020 was a real low point for us, as we were devastated to cancel our first national SHINE tour, but we refused to give up, and put our heads together to go bigger, bolder, brighter and online for 2021.

In 2021 Spin 1038, Spin South West and IRadio joined us to create what is quite possibly the biggest online women’s day event to ever happen in Ireland. With 6 stages, 80 speakers, and over 40,000 attendees, we were thrilled to top over 1 million video loads in three days! Shine 2021 was awarded The Innovation For Change Award at The Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards in 2021 along with winning Gold in the Digital Innovation category at the 2021 IMRO awards!

In 2022 we came back with a BANG! Despite Covid, and all the world threw at us – there was even a stage we thought we couldn’t pull it off – we brought Shine Festival back with our first-ever hybrid event. We were be joined by 2,000 girls in person and over 15,000 online through our live stream from all over Ireland.

Check out the electric energy of the two days at the highlights below…

And you know what?!? We’re only getting started. Shine Festival 2023 is coming back to where it all started – in Waterford. On the 11th and 12th of October in SETU Arena, our team will be joined by 2,000 transition year students from all over Ireland along with some of the most incredible female leaders and change makers as we come together to celebrate International Day Of The Girl 2023.