Local schools represent Cork in national art competition

TWO West Cork schools are vying for national honours in a prestigious art competition after being chosen to represent Cork.

Castledonovan National School and Ballymoney National School are celebrating being named junior and senior county winners respectively of the prestigious national art competition, Someone Like Me, which is organised by the National Disability Authority.

They will join 46 other schools competing for the much sought-after title at the national awards ceremony to be held at Dublin City Hall on Wednesday January 17th.

Castledonovan’s winning entry was by second class pupil Emma O’Driscoll, under the guidance of teacher Amy Hurley, and her project was a colourful picture of children of all abilities playing in the playground.

Ballymoney National School’s entry was by sixth class pupils Elisa Quin and Kayla O’Halloran and was a colourful and thought-provoking picture which encourages people to see through other’s eyes.

Now in its eighth year, the Someone Like Me art competition attracted more than 2,200 entries from national schools across the length and breadth of the country.

A detail of the winning junior entry from Castledonovan NS second class pupil Emma O’Driscoll.

The competition was created as part of the National Disability Authority’s work to nurture more positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities and, to date, it has seen more than 17,500 children take part in lesson plans and pupil activities designed to challenge our young people to appreciate and respect similarities and differences in people.

The competition, offers a range of prizes up to the value of €1,250, and was open to all primary school pupils from junior infants to sixth class from individual pupils, class groups and whole schools right across Ireland. Entries ranged from posters and collages to large sculptural installations and multi-media pieces.

The three-person judging panel comprising Ann Higgins, principal of Hospital School Children’s Health Ireland; Dr Carly Cheevers, senior research officer at the National Disability Authority; and Laura McGrath, an autism class teacher.

The entries were of an extremely high standard but the judges were particularly impressed with the entries from Castledonovan National School and Ballymoney National School, selecting them as Cork winners based on their insightful and inspirational responses.

Congratulating Castledonovan National School and Ballymoney National School, Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Anne Rabbitte said the entries showed a real commitment on the part of teachers and pupils to helping to develop a shared understanding of how we should treat others in a caring, sensitive and inclusive way, ‘promoting a sense of belonging and connectedness’.

‘This year we placed a special emphasis on nurturing a greater understanding of non-visible and intellectual disabilities. Many people with a non-visible disability face the everyday prospect of having to explain to others that they have a disability; something they may not always want to do,’ said Minister Rabbitte.

‘Selecting the county winners was not an easy task for the judges and choosing an overall winner will be an even harder job. And, while I know it will be an anxious wait for the pupils and teachers to hear which of the 48 county winners will be awarded the national title, every pupil should be congratulated for helping to enable each and every single person in Ireland to feel a valued member of society.’