Protecting Wildlife Under Threat Art Competition

By Matt Cullen, Schools Liaison Officer, Swords Tidy Towns

The Protecting Wildlife Under Threat Art Competition was initiated in January 2025. It was a collaboration between Swords Tidy Towns (STT) and Swords Woodland Association (SWA). It was open to students to enter it from all secondary schools and Youthreach in Swords. The following schools participated; Fingal Community College, Swords Community College, Colaiste Choilm, Loreto College, and Youthreach. A total of 112 entries were received, we were delighted with the response from each school and wish to thank the students, teachers, and each school for their time and participation in the art competition.  It is worth noting that when we started the art competition with the schools in 2019, we had 53 entries, so it is great to see the increased number of entries and more schools participating in the competition. 

Students were encouraged to use their creativity and were asked to submit a poster that reflects the subject of Protecting Wildlife Under Threat. They were given the opportunity to create the poster in any medium on A3 paper. It was truly wonderful to see such a diverse and very creative range of posters entered by the students. The judges wish to thank both the students and teachers for all their great work. They were delighted with the high standard of the entries. Swords Tidy Towns are very thankful to judges Eric Duffy (STT) and Joe Newman (SWA) for their help in the judging of the competition. The judges were so impressed with the standard of entries that they added three special merit awards, (total donated by the judges: €60) to add to the six prizes provided by Swords Tidy Towns . 

The outcome from the judging resulted in the following students receiving vouchers:

1st Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.) Elma Luque Sakka (Loreto College)                         €100 voucher

2nd Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.)  Leon Hanlon O’Neill (Colaiste Choilm)                    €50 voucher

3rd Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.)  Darcy Hayden (Swords Community College)           €25 voucher

1st Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Toby Thompson (Colaiste Choilm)                            €100 voucher

2nd Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Alex Shen (Colaiste Choilm)                                      €50 voucher                   

3rd Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Shaiganne Harford (Youthreach)                                €25 voucher

Merit Prize: (Age: 13) Alphons Antony (Colaiste Choilm)                                €20 voucher

Merit Prize: (Age: 16) Mariana Pena (Swords Community College)               €20 voucher               

Merit Prize (Age: 16) Martyna Nawrocka (Fingal Community College)         €20 voucher

Congratulations to all the winners and commended posters! The winning entries and commended posters were displayed in The Atrium, County Hall, F. C. Council, Swords during Bio Diversity Week from Tuesday 20th to Friday 23th May 2025 from 9am to 5pm.  Many thanks for the great help from Zer Barokas and Deirdre O’Farrell who are part of the Fingal Biodiversity Team and all relevant staff in Fingal County Council for helping to make this competition a great success. It shows the level of interest, commitment, and the importance by all concerned in focusing attention on environmental/diversity issues that affect our planet.