More than 350 Transition Year students entered this year's Growing Old with Dignity art competition, submitting visual-arts entries in various media, including sculpture, painting and photography.

James Kennedy won the £2,500 first prize, with his school, Terenure College, Dublin, getting £1,500 of equipment. The winner's art teacher, Jennifer Daly, won a European holiday.

In conjunction with the competition, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland has worked with the ASTI to research young people's attitudes to and knowledge of Alzheimer's disease. Half those surveyed, in 40 schools around the State, said they knew someone with dementia, and more than 90 per cent expressed empathy for the sufferer.