Commentary
The COMMENTARY section is for news, opinion pieces, articles, features, rants and raves, reviews - anything non-fiction, basically!
If you’re looking for something in particular, take a look at our category list. Alternatively, you can browse our archives by month (see that link to the left!).
Allegedly Angsty
Discussion relating to personal problems - and hopefully solutions - faced by teenagers today.
CAO Blues
Anything to do with CAO applications, or for that matter UCAS or other third-level applications.
Current Affairs
What’s going on in the world?
Exam Fever
Sitting exams, including the Junior or Leaving Cert? Advice, thoughts, and rants can be found here!
Gaming
Anything to do with video games, RPGs, etc.
Gifted and Talented
Anything to do with issues relating to being ‘gifted’ or ‘talented’ - including the use of those particular labels!
Links of the Month
Archive of the links that have made it to the main page of the site (see the left-hand side of the page) each month.
Musical Notes
Anything to do with music of all kinds, whether it’s a concert review, discussion of a particular artist, or anything else.
On Screen
Television and movie commentary and discussion.
Save The Planet
For anything relating to the environment and preservation.
Science Talk
Anything scientific, from physics and mathematics to psychology and sociology.
Sports
Sports talk.
The Past Is A Foreign Country
Discussions and articles relating to all things historical.
Volunteering
Information on volunteering, charity work, etc.
What Are You Reading?
Read any good books lately? Want to praise an underappreciated magazine?
World Wide Web
Anything and everything to do with the internet.
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Interested in submitting something? Please read these SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES first.
Contributors should be between the ages of 13 and 18 at the time of submitting work. They do not need to be living in, or born in, Ireland, but are advised that the site will be mainly of interest to those in Ireland, and that certain areas (e.g. education, local events) will have an Irish focus. Please note that OUR VOICE is a voluntary endeavour and cannot offer payment to its contributors.
OUR VOICE is intended to be a resource for all teenagers, so please bear in mind that some of our readers may be as young as 13. Material containing age-inappropriate content will not be published. If unsure about what may or may not be an appropriate way of handling a particular topic, please contact the editor for advice and guidance.
Offensive material, including material which is racist, sexist, homophobic, or in any other sense prejudiced, will not be published.
Please cite references used - this means naming sources, whether in the text or after it, that you have gathered information from. Work which has been found to be plagiarised in part or in full will be removed from the site and the contributor may be banned from making further contributions.
Please let the editor know whether you would like your article published under your own name, or whether you would prefer to use a pseudonym (including using initials for part of your name). If using a pseudonym, please use a wholly fictional name rather than that of a celebrity, public figure, or someone you know.
Please proof-read your piece thoroughly before submitting it. The editor may make small changes to your piece before it appears on the website, including minor corrections of punctuation, grammar, and phrasing. If a piece is in need of substantial editing, the editor may send it back to the author with recommendations for revision/rewriting. Pieces may not be edited after their publication in OUR VOICE.
Copyright remains with the individual author, and he/she is free to publish their piece elsewhere, though we request that they wait two months from the date of publication in OUR VOICE before doing so. If material has appeared elsewhere (school newspapers, personal blogs etc.), please do not submit it unless it has been substantially revised for OUR VOICE.
The editor will contact authors within a week of submission to let them know whether their piece will appear or not. The editor aims to have submissions published as quickly as possible on the site, particularly pieces pertaining to current events, but at certain times this may not be possible.
Read all that? Terrific. Send your work to voice@giftedkids.ie, either in the body of the email, or as a plain text attachment. Italics may be indicated by placing an asterisk (*) on either side of the word/phrase/sentence. Please also include what category your work falls into (if any), or suggest a new category for it.