Budding Clonmel artist bidding for All-Ireland glory

A Clonmel student has been recognised as one of Ireland’s best young artists for her entry in the Sightsavers Junior Painter of the Year Awards.

11 year old Weronika Begier is on cloud nine after her regional win, with celebrations continuing at Presentation Primary School in Clonmel.

The awards are designed to inspire children across the country to express their artistic talent through painting whilst developing an appreciation of the importance and value of their sight.

There were 15 regional winners and an additional 16 special commendations in the competition, with paintings centred on the theme ‘Framing the future’. 

The budding artists paintings will be amongst those displayed at an award ceremony at the Science Gallery in Dublin on Monday 27th February where the overall national winners will be announced.

Speech and Language 5th class pupil Weronika's painting is titled 'We can all play together’. She says the idea behind her painting is that all children, whether blind or with a disability, can play happily together. 

Presentation Primary School teacher Helen Skeehan is "very proud" of Weronika. "Her painting is really bright and cheerful with a lot of attention to detail. I taught the class about using different shades throughout their paintings and that can be seen in Weronika's work," she tells South Tipp Today. 

12 year old Shane Maher from Scoil Naomh Cualán in Borrisoleigh also won a regional award for his painting titled ‘Science enables the blind to see’.

Shane Maher celebrating his Junior Painter of the Year Award regional win with his classmates, principal Kay Ryan, Teresa Murray from Sightsavers and teacher Michael Small.