Coláiste Ailigh students announced as winners of the Grand Prix award

First-year students from Coláiste Ailigh in Letterkenny have been announced as the national winners of the Grand Prix award of This is Art! - national competition which celebrates young artists of all abilities. The first years at Coláiste Ailigh won the stunning award with their entry Mess Monsters.

The Coláiste Ailigh students said: "We are so happy to discover that we are the Grand Prix winners in the group category. We worked so hard for weeks on this project and we’re so happy that the judges loved it too. When working with others, there are different ideas and thoughts and it's great to see how all the different ideas come together to create amazing art. We had great fun making these monsters and as a class we are so proud.” 

A specially commissioned one-of-a-kind glass trophy handmade by renowned glass artist, Róisín de Buitléar was received by the students and teacher at the school.

The winners were chosen by an independent panel of judges who have highlighted the high standard of entries across all categories. The competition promotes artistic practice among young people and encourages and supports creativity, originality and self-expression. 

Working to the theme, ‘This Is Inspiration’, 3,000 entries were received from young artists of all abilities, aged 18 and under, all over the country who created an original piece of art that will be showcased in an online art gallery for generations to come.  

This year 17 local authorities have taken part in This is Art! with 7 of these hosting exhibitions on Saturday, June 10.  Selected works from this year’s entries will also feature on billboards across the country and on social media as part of a campaign by The Creative Ireland Programme and RTÉ. 

The  director of The Creative Ireland Programme, Tania Banotti, said: “On behalf of the Creative Ireland Programme I want to congratulate the winners of This is Art! 2023 on their exceptional work. Creative Ireland is delighted to support any opportunity for young people to be creative in whatever form that takes and this year we were thrilled to see the broad range of styles and techniques employed by everyone who entered This is Art. Like the judges we were genuinely impressed with the breadth of imagination and skills employed by all of our young artists. We would also like to thank our This is Art partners who have delivered this wonderful creative programme.” 

The head of Children’s and Young People’s Content at RTÉ, Suzanne Kelly said: “RTÉ is so thrilled to be part of such a positive and inspiring initiative. Once again, the level of creativity from 3,000 young artists of all ages and all abilities all over the country has been so impressive. Our invitation for This Is Art! was to get involved, get imagining and get creative and the results have been truly mind-blowing! Well done to all the winners and to everyone who entered. Your work and your contribution to this year's competition is truly inspiring." 

Speaking about the Letterkenny students’ work, illustrator and author, Aoife Dooley said: “I love how each student who took part, took a piece of the story that meant something to them personally and expressed this through art. The piece looks amazing and I love how they used different mediums throughout.”