An 18-year-old student from Donegal has taken the top prize in this year’s Texaco Children’s Art Competition.
Mantas Poderys, a former pupil of St. Eunan's College and Letterkenny Vocational School, won the first prize of €2000 in Category A (16-18 year olds) for his multiple image painting consisting of five self-portraits under the title You Talkin' to Me?
A regular participant in the competition, Mantas has been a major prizewinner in each of the last four years. In 2006, he won first prize in the 14-15 year olds category for his painting Gone for Lunch.
A year later, he won the €1,000 second prize for Queen of Tory and the Guardian Angel- a painting that was chosen to illustrate the 2008 Texaco Children's Art Calendar.
Last year he won a Special Merit award for a work entitled Home.
Remarking on the standard of his entries over the past four years, the Chairman of the judging panel, Professor Declan McGonagle said that Mantas can be justifiably regarded as one of Ireland’s foremost young artists.
“He has the skill, imagination and talent required to become a leading name in the world of Irish art,” Professor McGonagle said.
The 21 top prizewinners in seven categories, chosen from 34000 entries, are to be presented with their prizes at a reception in Dublin Castle this afternoon.
For the second successive year, a student from Gorey Community School won first prize in Category B (14-15 year olds). Henry Collie (15) won the €450 prize for his portrait study in charcoal.
12-year-old Clare McKelvey from Rathmore Grammar School in Belfast won first prize in Category C (12-13 years) for her Self Portraitwhile 9-year-old Jesse Byrne, a student at St Mary's CBS in Mullingar, won first prize in Category D (9-11 year olds), for his painting Still Life.
The youngest first prize winners were Rachel Hinchy (8) from Milford National School in Castletroy for her colourful entry Close Up & Personaland Tori Douglas (6) from Castlecomer for her entry Fairy on a Mushroom.
Trevor Kershaw (13) from St Joseph's Special National School in Tallaght won first prize in the special needs category for his entry Wally.
Previous winners of the art competition include artists Bernadette Madden, Dorothy Cross, Graham Knuttel and Robert Ballagh, fashion designer Paul Costello, broadcasters Thelma Mansfield and Terry Prone, ICTU General Secretary David Begg and politican Ruairi Quinn.