Cork students figure prominently in Texaco Competition awards

Rebel art was highly regarded this year in the 67th Texaco Children’s Art Competition with 10 students from Cork city and county receiving recognition.

In the city, Holly Feehan (15) from Mount Mercy College; Becca Evans (13) from Regina Mundi Girls Secondary School, Ballinlough; Millie Casey (6) from Ballintemple National School; and Isabella (10) and Gabriella Croce (9), both pupils at Cloghroe National School were all named as winners in the competition which saw results delayed due to Covid.

They all received Special Merit Awards for artworks that final Adjudicator, Professor Declan McGonagle said “demonstrated high levels of skill and imagination”.

No stranger to the competition, Isabella won a Special Merit Award in 2019 and 2016.

Five pupils in the county also received Special Merit Awards; Tomás Markey (14) from St Brogan’s College, Bandon; Lily Cahill (13) from Bandon Grammar School; Rebecca Gibson (10) from Kibrittain National School; Ella Young (8) from Kilcolman National School, Enniskeane, and Isabel Sweeney (15) from Skibbereen Community School.

The Texaco Children’s Art Competition is regarded as the longest-running sponsorship in the history of arts sponsoring in Ireland, with an unbroken history that dates back to the very first competition held in 1955.

The competition was conducted this year in the face of school closures and other limitations applying over the past 12 months — which required amendments to the announcement of winners, presentation of prizes and other activities which are traditionally held in April and May each year.

PJ Doherty, a 16-year old student at St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, was the overall winner of this year’s 67th Texaco Children’s Art Competition, taking first prize in the senior 16-18 years age category.

His winning work, for which he receives a prize of €1,500, is entitled ‘Me And My Dad’ and is a portrait study in coloured pencil of the artist and his father, Patrick.

James Twohig, Director of Ireland Operations for Valero Energy (Ireland) Limited — the company that markets fuel in Ireland under the Texaco brand — congratulated the young artists who took part, who he said, “continue to demonstrate their skills and ability in the incredible prize-winning entries we see this year.”

He praised the artists, their parents, and teachers for what he called “their enthusiasm and continued interest in the competition, as a platform on which they can showcase their imagination, exercise their creativity, and display their very exceptional talents.”

Past winners in the competition include artists Graham Knuttel, Robert Ballagh, Bernadette Madden, Dorothy Cross, fashion designer Paul Costelloe, and artist and former broadcaster Thelma Mansfield.

Other notable past winners include former minister, Ruairi Quinn (a four-time winner), communications consultant and broadcaster Terry Prone, chairman of the Pension Authority David Begg, actress Jean Anne Crowley, musician Ethna Tinney, Trinity College Professor of Contemporary Irish History Eunan O’Halpin and the late novelist Clare Boylan.

From September 14 to October 2, Drogheda’s Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of the top 126 winning paintings in this year’s competition.

Admission is free and further information is available at www.highlanes.ie