Kildare students win top prizes in Texaco Children's Art Competition

Four Kildare students have won top prizes in this year’s 68th Texaco Children’s Art Competition.

They were: Ross McHale (17), from Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge; Nevindi Weerasinghe Kulatunga (11), from Mercy Convent Primary School, Naas; Sophia Lumingkit (11), from Scoil Mhuire Senior, Newbridge and Chloe Tighe (11), a pupil at Scoil Bhríde, Naas.

All were winners of Special Merit Awards for artworks that Final Adjudicator, Professor Gary Granville said “displayed high levels of skill and creativity.”

No stranger to the Competition, Ross also won a Special Merit Awards in 2020 and 2018.

The Texaco Children’s Art Competition is popularly 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. This year, as has been the case throughout its life, it has been a platform on which young artists from Kildare and counties throughout Ireland have had their talents recognised and their creativity commended.

From 31st May to 30th June, Belfast’s Royal Ulster Academy of Arts is hosting an exhibition of the top 126 winning paintings in this year’s Competition. Admission is free and the Academy is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am-5pm.