Student’s poster win is inspired by Galley Head

A BUDDING West Cork art student has won a prize for a poster she designed which is aimed at promoting the importance of biodiversity.

Madelena Duggan (12), a sixth-class pupil from Ardfield National School, took her prize in the special judges’ category  of the Inland Fisheries Competition for her conservation-themed poster which, was inspired by Galley Head and Red Strand.

‘I love art and it’s something I do for fun,’ Madelena told The Southern Star. ‘I never entered a competition before and our principal, Clodagh Crowley, encouraged us to enter, so I did.’

The competition, organised by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in conjunction with Blackrock Education Centre, received entries from primary school students around the country.

They were challenged by IFI to create a poster with the ‘catch-photo-release’ (CPR) message that could be used in awareness campaigns.

Madelena, who lives in Sam’s Cross with her two sisters, Milena and Bella, and her parents Sophia and Paul, took her inspiration for her poster from Galley Head and from Red Strand.

‘I love the idea of catching a fish and releasing it back into the water after taking a photo first,’ Madelena said.

‘I got an incredible surprise when I got the phone call from my teacher, Ciara McGuire to tell me that I had won a prize, I was so happy.’

Madelena, who is looking forward to enrolling at the Scared Heart Secondary School in Clonakilty come September this year,  will soon be receiving her prize of an iPad or a Samsung tablet.

‘I don’t know what I want to do yet when I get older,’ Madelena said.

‘But I will always do some art as a hobby at least.’

The national poster competition is an important element of the wider Something Fishy Educational Programme, aimed at primary school pupils aged between 10 and 13. Information about the programme is available from somethingfishy.ie.