Louth students get creative for mental health

Over 1,800 Irish students, including many from Louth, let their creative skills shine following a call for entries into Mental Health Ireland’s Art & Photography Competition.

The theme of the competition was ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ which are; Be Active; Connect; Take Notice; Keep Learning; and Connect.

This year, Mental Health Ireland opened up the competition to more students around Ireland, including Youth Reach, Special Education, and Post Primary schools.

Cumar Mohamed pictured above, from St Brigids Special School, Dundalk was awarded Second Place for his artwork.

Dean McCague, also from St Brigids Special School, Dundalk was awarded Highly Commended for this photography piece.

Martin Rogan, CEO Mental Health Ireland said, “The growing number of entries to this year’s Art and Photography competition is a reflection of the growing awareness of mental health and wellbeing from the young people of Ireland.

“The competition offers students the space to express their own thoughts and understanding of mental health as well as their hopes for the future of mental health for themselves and for those around them.  The theme, ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’, empowers students to educate themselves and their peers on how to put simple steps into action every day to feel good and to function well.

“The calibre of work this year, as always, was very high. This year, we were delighted to keep inclusiveness at the heart of the competition by inviting new categories including Youth Reach and Special Education students. As a result, we were able to open up the scope of creativity, and showcase more talent than ever before.”

The Exhibition and award ceremony took place on March 29th at Dublin’s iconic St Patrick’s Cathedral with students and their families travelling from all over the country to celebrate.

Mental Health Ireland had the support of esteemed artist Lisa Butterly in selecting the winning entries for Art and support from Rosaleen Heavin for Photography.

Last year’s National Winners Jonathon O’Keeffe (Art) and Marcus Prouse (Photography) were also invited to attend the event.

Mental Health Ireland is now calling out to students, teachers and parents to get in touch about next year’s competition, which is open for entries this September.

For queries and information on the 2020 Art and Photography competition, contact info@mentalhealthireland.ie