Art, like spring, was bursting out all over. Judges in the Texaco Children's Art Competition had to contend with more than 50,000 entries, and their decisions were announced at a lunch for the winners and their families this week in the Burlington Hotel.
"It's great to see such a huge cross-section," said one of the judges, Eoin Butler, of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra. "What's lovely about children's work is its genuineness, its openness, its freshness towards the world at large. It's their response to the world around them, and you are looking at their sensitivity to that world."
The winners in seven different age categories were there to celebrate. The Big Ship, painted by Rebecca Keating (7), from Cratloe's St John National School in Co Clare, was one of the winning entries.
Her mother, Teresa Dillon-Keating, a teacher at St Vincent's National School in Lisnagry, Co Limerick, was delighted with the news. Her older children, David (10) and Amelia Keating (13), were also enjoying the occassion.
Dominic Devine (18), from near Strabane, Co Tyrone, who plans to study architecture in Queens University after his A Levels this year, was another first prize-winner with his landscape, The Lough Ash. He came along with his parents, Declan and Ann Devine, and his little sister, Ciara (9).
Eoghan O'Keeffe (13), from Gorey Community School, also likes to paint. "I'm doing a commission at the moment," said the confident winner of his age category.
The competition, in its 48th year, is "probably the longest sponsorship of its kind in Ireland", according to Pat O'Shaughnessy, country chairman of Texaco (Ireland). "We've a tradition in it now."