Wexford County Council, in conjunction with South East Radio, has announced the winners of the 2019 Christmas Decoration Competition.   The school year ended on a festive note with Cllr. Michael Sheehan, An Cathaoirleach presenting the awards at a special ceremony in County Hall on Thursday 19th of December.  

Councillor Michael Sheehan, said “The school children who participated in this competition have shown us all how to reduce waste by making unusual Christmas decorations from everyday household waste materials and a bit of imagination. They are a wonderful example to us all and I congratulate them, their teachers and their parents for making such a great effort in participating in this competition.”

Hundreds of children around the county participated in the Christmas Decoration Competition which was open to all primary and secondary school children. Alan Corcoran from South East Radio stated ” the competition which is now in its sixteenth year is great, as it aims to get children and their parents thinking about how to reuse materials that might otherwise be thrown away.”

Cliona Connolly, Environment Education Officer with Wexford County Council stated that “The aim of the competition is to encourage children to make creative Christmas decorations with waste materials, fostering the ethos of reuse wherever possible.  Schools around the county were invited to make a Christmas decoration out of waste materials. Numerous schools throughout Wexford participated in the competition and one entry per category from each school was put forward to the County Final. Among this years’ submissions were cribs, Christmas trees, snowmen, angels, Christmas village scenes, Rudolf, and lots of tree decorations.”

All 306 decorations received were displayed in County Hall and received great praise. The People’s Choice award proved to be a great success again this year where members of the public voted for their favourite decoration on display. Tadgh Rossiter, Mercy School John’s Road, Wexford secured this award with his decoration ‘Wreath’.

A group category proved to be a huge success again this year as it encourages children to work together to make amazing decorations from as young as junior infants.

The overall primary school winner was an entry by Sadhbh McCormack, Mercy School, John’s Road, Wexford entitled ‘Rudy and Sleigh’.  Sadhbh made the winning decoration by using a range of waste materials including cardboard, pringle tubs, plastic lids, and toilet roll inserts.  The Overall Runner Up was a group entry entitled ‘The Recycled Village’ by 4th class students Mercy School, John’s Road, Wexford. They created a village scene with a wide selection of waste materials. Other winning decorations included ‘Santa's Angel’ by Ivy Allen, Junior Infants,  St Mary's National School, Enniscorthy; ‘LOL Snowman’ by Medth Dowling, Senior Infants, Camolin National School; ‘Rudolph The Rubbish Reindeer’ by Mikey Fitzpatrick, 1st Class, Ballycanew National School; ‘Britney the Owl Ava Dreelan,  2nd Class, St Joseph's P.S. Kilmuckridge; ‘Wallhanging Decorations Spreadout’ by Sophie Redmond, 3rd class, Clongeen National School; ‘The Gingerbread House’ by Lilly Burke, 4th class, Holy Family National School, Glenbrien; ‘We Three Kings’ by Anna Corrigan 5th class , Screen National School and ‘A Festive Feast’ by Holly Spencer, 6th Class Gorey Central National School. Primary school group categories winners included ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Ballyhogue National School; ‘Hogwarts Christmas Castle’ by Tanad Byrne Staples, Axel Roulston, Ruth Griffin Doyle, Callia Dunphy and Bryony McGuiness, St Iberius National School, Wexford; ‘Santa's Truck: Coke Cans’ by Kate Mooney & Andrew Mooney,  Barntown National School and ‘A Starry Christmas Night’ by Kate Higgins & Lilly Kehoe Rathnure National School. Secondary School winners included ‘Our Christmas Village’ by Senior 3, Our Lady of Faitma School, Wexford; ‘Lighted Christmas Star & Wreath’ by Sophia Whitehead, Selskar College, Wexford and ‘Countdown to Christmas’ by Lauren Spencer, Gorey Community School.

Congratulations to all who participated.