By Julie McLaughlin
A local school pupil was in the finals of a Northern Ireland joke-telling competition for children and young people.
Shea McKeever, a Year 8 student at Knockevin School in Downpatrick, went to Stormont on 19 May for the finals of the VoiceBox NI 2026 Joke-Telling Competition.
The 11-year-old from Downpatrick was the only local competitor from south Down in the finals and one of only 18 selected from throughout Northern Ireland.
VoiceBox is a national joke-telling competition for primary and post-primary age children and teens “designed to raise awareness of the fun and importance of communication,” a spokesperson for the competition said.
All schools in Northern Ireland were invited to nominate one joke (and joke teller) for this year’s competition.
Those who were selected for the finals told their jokes last week in the Senate Chamber at the Stormont Parliament Buildings in front of MLAs and a judging panel.
The event was hosted by Northern Ireland celebrity May McFettridge.
The annual competition is put on by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT).
One particular aspect that made Shea’s joke unique was that he told it aided by his electronic augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device.
AAC devices can be used as an alternative to speech or as an additional help to complement a person’s speech.
In Northern Ireland, most AAC devices are provided via each local health trust’s speech and language therapy service.
In the South Eastern Health Trust, the children’s speech and language therapy services are located at Ward 24 in the Downshire Estate in Downpatrick, while in the Southern Health Trust area, speech and language therapy services are provided locally at Daisy Hill Hospital.
Shea was nominated to take part in the competition by Kathy Moffitt, the lead speech and language therapist at Knockevin.
Kathy also went with him to Stormont as a representative from the school.
“I was so proud to attend the event with Shea and his mum,” she said.
“It was an incredible honour to attend the RCSLT VoiceBox Awards and support Shea as he shared his sense of humour using his AAC device.”
Read the full story in the current issue of the Mourne Obsever Down Recorder edition.
