Longford National Winner in Green-Schools Irish Water Competition

Longford National Winner in Green-Schools Irish Water Poster and Video Competition

Winners celebrated by Green-Schools & Irish Water at virtual award ceremony

Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon student Tanna Kruger became a regional winner in the poster competition and overall national winner in the secondary school category at this year's Green-Schools Poster and Video Competition Awards. The virtual ceremony was shown on screens in schools and homes around the country, with participants also treated to a presentation from the award-winning Cartoon Saloon.  

The popular competition focuses every year on a theme around water sustainability and is open to Irish primary and secondary students. This year’s theme was ‘valuing water’ which tied in with the UN’s water theme for 2021. Despite the disrupted year for schools with COVID-19 restrictions and closures there were over 1,400 entries for the poster competition.

Green-Schools Manager Cathy Baxter said: “We kept the competition awards separate to our other Water Awards this year which allowed for an awards ceremony that was more focused on the competition winners and it gave more time for guest speakers. Different classes from the winning schools could log on, while the parents and any wider family members, who wanted to, could log on from home too. It created a lovely atmosphere to celebrate and award the winners and showcase their winning entries. Every year we are amazed and proud to see how much these young students understand how valuable our water is and how to best conserve it. This is communicated with such clarity in their fabulous posters and videos, and it is a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate that.”

Following the awards today, Geoffrey Bourke of Irish Water, said: “Once again this year, we were blown away by the imagination and effort put in by the thousands of students all over the country who submitted entries to the competition. It is truly inspiring to see how deeply these young people understand the value of water. They are setting a great example in showing how we can all play our part in safeguarding this precious resource. Irish Water is proud to support them through our sponsorship of the Green-Schools programme.

Longford County Councils Environmental Officer Gary Brady said “This is a wonderful achievement for Tanna and Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon and I would like to congratulate Tanna on her amazing art work”.

Irish Water’s sponsorship of the Green-Schools Water Theme is in its eighth year and in that time over 2,000 schools have attended interactive Water Workshops and Walk for Water Events. Last year alone, Green-Schools saved over 600 million litres of water. Green-Schools also runs a Water Ambassador training programme for students in participating schools and a Water Conservation Photo Competition for parents and students. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and school closures, the Green-Schools programme successfully moved much of its interaction online for the school year, with new content and innovative virtual events.

The poster competition has twelve regional winners and three national winners in three categories – Junior Primary, Senior Primary and Secondary. The regional winners win a professionally framed copy of their poster and a €250 Arts & Hobby Voucher. The national winners also win €500 for the Green-Schools committee in their school. The video winners get €2,000 for the Green-Schools committee in their school, with the two runners up winning €500 each.

Ends

Notes:

Winning schools and students:

Poster Competition Regional Winners               

Junior Primary: (Infants-Second Class) 

• Dublin Region: Ramona Craddock-Conlon, Second Class, St. Marys Donnybrook, Dublin 4
• Eastern and Midlands Region: Illinca Bogatu, First Class, Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Carlow, Co. Carlow
• North Western Region: Lilou Schmid, Senior Infants, St. Josephs NS, Woodford, Co. Galway
• Southern Region: Adrian Bindemans, Second Class, Glasheen BNS, School Ave, Glasheen, Cork, Co. Cork

Senior Primary Category: (Third-Sixth Class) 

• Dublin Region: Darius Pantazi, Sixth Class, Scoil Aonghusa Senior, Balrothery, Tallaght, Dublin 24
• Eastern and Midlands Region: Aoibhe McAndrew, Sixth Class, Scoil Chrónáin Naofa, Dromakeenan, County Offaly
• North Western Region: Éilla Joyce, Third Class, Scoil Naomh Fursa, Claran, Headford, County Galway
• Southern Region: Molly Gantley, Sixth Class, Cappawhite National School, Tipperary

Secondary Category 

• Dublin Region: Joely Kennedy, First Year, St. Josephs Secondary School, Rush, Co. Dublin
• Eastern and Midlands Region: Tanna Kruger, Third Year, Mercy Ballymahon Secondary School, Ballymahon, Co. Longford
• North Western Region: Sofija Stolareustea, Second Year, Merlin College, Doughiska Rd, Galway
• Southern Region: William Stokes, First Year, Patrician Academy, Mallow, Co. Cork

Junior Primary National Winner 

• Adrian Bindemans, Glasheen BNS

Senior Primary National Winner 

• Éilla Joyce, Scoil Naomh Fursa

Secondary National Winner 

• Tanna Kruger, Mercy Ballymahon Secondary School

Video Competition Winner

• Coláiste Íosagáin, Portarlington

Video Competition Runners Up

• Coláiste Nano Nagle, Limerick City
• Presentation Secondary School, Thurles

Photo (above; l-r):

Jesephine Donohue Principal Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon; Tanna Kruger 3rd Year student and overall national winner of Irish Waters Secondary Schools water poster competition; Gary Brady E.A.O. Longford County Council; Grace Bruton Art Teacher Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon