Carlow girl has been named the winner of RTÉ's 'What's Next?'

The winner of RTÉ Kids series ‘What’s Next?’ has been named, with Kate Butler (age 11) from Carlow scooping the coveted title of ‘golden brainbox’. A competition that brought young innovators from across Ireland to develop solutions to some of the planet’s biggest challenges, culminated in an exciting season finale this week.

The show, created by Irish production company HopSkip Studios, challenged young minds to tackle environmental issues through creativity with a little help from social media star Adam Beales, actress Demi Isaac Oviawe and comedian MC Fitzpatrick.

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The winners of each episode went head to head in this week’s final, with Alisha Mooney (Meath), Jack McGuane (Meath), Sophie O’Grady (Cork), Ruben Lawless (Dublin), Tynan Lawson (Dublin) and Kate Butler (Carlow) bringing their ideas to the table for the final challenge.

Having battled off the other young disruptors, Kate’s invention, ‘Lights Out’ - an app that gamifies energy saving - impressed judges Mark “The Science Guy” Langtry and Fionn Ferreira the most.

After securing her title as winner, Kate had the chance to meet with Rajesh Jaiswal at Technical University Dublin and ultimately pitch her idea to millionaire entrepreneur and investor Norman Crowley of pioneering energy efficiency company, Cool Planet.

"Meeting the winner of What’s Next? has been an inspiring glimpse into the future of sustainability. Kate’s innovative app shows how technology can empower us to make greener choices in our everyday lives using smart meters, appliances and wearables to turn eco-friendly habits into a game we can all challenge ourselves to win.

“It’s fantastic to see young people leading the charge. They’re not just aware of the challenges we face; they’re creating solutions that will shape a better world. The creativity and passion I’ve seen on the show reminds me that we need more young minds to step up, dream big, and drive the sustainable revolution forward,” Norman said.

Aisling Gallagher of HopSkip Studios added: “Huge congratulations to every single one of our finalists and, in particular, Kate, who has proven herself to be a worthy winner of the title of Golden Brainbox!

“Throughout the series, our young disruptors and celebrity researchers MC, Adam and Demi came up with such brilliant ideas, giving our excellent episode judge Fionn Ferreira some really tough decisions.

“In the exciting final episode, we had really valuable input from Rajesh Jaiswal, Mark Langtry and Norman Crowley, who kindly shared their time, expertise and insights. We have no doubt that the young people in this season, including our fantastic winner Kate, will go on to achieve big things with their ideas – and we can’t wait to see ‘what’s next’ for them!”

The What’s Next? season finale airs on RTÉ2 on Thursday 19th December at 5.30pm and is available to watch on RTÉ Player. The series is produced with funding from Coimisiún na Meán and Northern Ireland Screen.