Minister 'delighted' to launch national art competition in Waterford

The annual, all-island national art competition This Is Art! is back for its third consecutive year, after it was launched in Waterford.

RTÉ and the Creative Ireland Programme are once again calling on young artists to submit their work. Celebrating visual art made by children and young people all over the island of Ireland, This Is Art! invites artists of all abilities, aged 18 and under, individually or in groups, to create an original piece of art to be showcased in an online TIA! digital collection.

Speaking at the launch of This is Art at the Waterford Gallery of Art, Minister Catherine Martin commented: "It is wonderful to see This is Art! thrive and grow. It’s a very real testament to the talent and creativity of our young people and I am very pleased to officially launch it this year in Waterford. I would encourage children right across the island of Ireland to get creative, have fun and participate in this year’s competition. The lucky winners will be announced on Saturday 10th June 2023 for Cruinniú na nÓg- Ireland’s national day of free creativity for young people"

Commenting, RTÉ Director General, Dee Forbes said: “Over the last two years, This is Art! has highlighted the level of creativity that exists among young artists of all ages and all abilities all over the country. We have been so impressed by the quality of the entries we've received. So, we're looking forward to seeing as many young people as possible respond to our invitation to use their imaginations, get creative and get involved in this third edition of This is Art!  If the last two years are anything to go by, the judges have another tough job on their hands this year. Good luck to everyone."

How it works

The competition is open to all young people of all abilities, aged 18 and under, residing on the island of Ireland and is inclusive of all visual art disciplines.

There are 5 categories:

● Age 7 and under

● Age 8 – 11

● Age 12 – 15

● Age 16 - 18

● Group category

To enter

CREATE a piece of original visual art.

SNAP or Scan a digital version of it.

UPLOAD your entry, along with a short artist statement, to rte.ie/thisisart.

All eligible artwork will then be reviewed by an independent panel of jurors and exhibited in our This Is Art! online gallery.  Selected works will feature on local authority billboards across the country and on social media.

The theme

The theme of this year’s competition is "This Is Inspiration"

Jury member Amanda Coogan says:“ To inspire means literally 'to breathe life into' I’m really looking forward to seeing what it is that inspires you. What ideas have you chosen to breathe life into? And how have you chosen to do it? The brief is wide open so we’re really looking forward to seeing how you respond to it!”

Group winners from TIA!2022, Lottie and Rosie Billington (sisters) from Westport, Co Mayo (Group) will feature in the upcoming TV series This Is Art Club! and encourage everyone creative to get their entries in. 

"It was amazing to win the This is Art! group category prize, we were so surprised.  We loved creating our entry 'Surf On Turf' because we like using our imagination and doing things a bit outside the box. The trophy we won was so cool and colourful. We also won a printmaking workshop for our whole class at school that we're going to be doing later this year, we're delighted that we'll get to share our prize with all of our friends. We'd really encourage everyone to enter the TIA! competition because you can really go wild and make art out of anything for it. It's great that you don't have to stick to one size or one particular type of art. At the moment our favourite arty thing to do is sketching (Lottie) and creating things with our new sewing machine that I got from Santa (Rosie)"

The Prizes 

A prize fund of more than €10,000 will be awarded across the different categories for further education and art related vouchers.

The dates 

- Opening date for entries is March 13th

- The closing date for entries is Midnight May 8th

- Winners will be announced on Cruinniú na nÓg, 10th June 2023

Further information and all competition details and terms and conditions are available at www.rte.ie/thisisart. For more on Creative Ireland, visit https://www.creativeireland. gov.ie/en/about