Mayo students win county enterprise award with AI grading platform

A group of Ballina students have won the Mayo Student Enterprise Competition with an AI-powered grading tool they say could transform how teachers assess written work.

St. Muredach's College's Gavin Brennan, Mark Leonard, Cillian Birrane Murray, and Cody Devanney Gallagher, developed GradeMate - a platform that uses artificial intelligence to grade and provide feedback on student essays to Leaving and Junior Certificate standard.

The students triumphed over competitors from right across the county.

"It's not an honour we take lightly," Brennan said of the county win. "We were delighted."

The platform currently operates for English and the group hope to expand its subject coverage before the national Student Enterprise final, which takes place in Mullingar in May.

GradeMate assesses written answers and returns instant, exam-standard feedback, grading work on the Leaving Cert H1-to-H6 scale and the equivalent Junior Cert grades.

Brennan said the aim is to take pressure off both teachers and students, the former spared from time-consuming manual marking, the latter given immediate, actionable feedback rather than waiting days for results.

"Our product shows how AI can be helpful."

The pair built the platform using Bubble.io, a no-code development tool suited to users with basic coding knowledge.

Their work caught the attention of Microsoft, which shortlisted GradeMate for its Young Innovators 2026 programme.

Microsoft subsequently offered the students free legal support and consultancy, and they were invited to take part in a workshop with TELUS International in Ballina, a leading AI multi-national.

"Microsoft were impressed with the product," Brennan said.

"Teachers and students who used it are really happy as well."

Brennan acknowledged that AI in education remains a contentious topic, with concerns about academic dishonesty widespread among school staff and parents.

He said GradeMate is designed with that in mind, the platform does not generate answers for students, only guidance on how to improve what they have already written.

"People have been wary when we talk about it being AI ed-tech," he said.

"Usually it's stories of academic dishonesty. Our product doesn't give students answers, it tells them how to better their answers. It's more of a support."

The national Student Enterprise final takes place in Mullingar's Park Hotel on Thursday, May 7.