Issued Wednesday, 5th February 2003

AN IMPORTANT DATE IN THE HISTORY OF ART

February 28th has been fixed as the closing date for receipt of entries for longest running competition in the history of art sponsoring in Ireland.

The search has begun to find the winners of the 2003 Texaco Children's Art Competition. Already, a brochure containing details of the competition has been sent to all primary and secondary schools throughout Ireland. Copies may also be obtained for individual artists at any Texaco service station.

The closing date for receipt of entries is February 28th. As in previous years, an estimated 50,000 students are expected to submit works from which the judges will select the winning entries.

There are seven age categories in the competition (A - G) from as early as 6
years and under all the way up to 18 years. Included in these seven age categories is one exclusively dedicated to entries received from special needs students of 18 years or under.

Choosing the talented young artists who will be honoured alongside those who have won prizes in the 48 years since the competition was first introduced back in the 1950s is a task that begins with the Preliminary Judging. This process gets underway once the closing date has arrived and the entries have been sorted into the various age categories.

Preliminary judging is carried out by a four-person team, expert in all aspects of art and art education. They are Dr. Kay O'Brien and Mr. Eoin Butler (both from St. Patrick's Training College, Dublin), Dr. Denise Ferran from Belfast and Mr. Alan Bremner, Director of Programming at UTV plc.

Once the preliminary judging is completed, the selected entries that make
their way through to the final judging are then adjudicated upon by the Chairman of the judging panel - Declan McGonagle, Director, Dublin City Arts Centre.

There are twenty-three winners in each age category - a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize-winner and 20 Special Merit Award winners. Top three prize-winners receive a cheque ranging in value from EUR 60 all the up to EUR 2,000 (depending on age group and prize category). Each Special Merit Award winner is presented with a box of art materials. All are invited with parents to the awards ceremony, which is held in Dublin's Burlington Hotel. In addition, Certificates of Commendation are also sent to the 100 entrants in each category who come closest to winning the top awards.

A special feature of the competition, introduced last year, is the award of the UTV/Texaco Young Artist Commission. Valued at Stg£1,000, the commission
goes to the young artist chosen by the Chairman of the Judging Panel as
overall winner of the competition from the first prize winners in each of the seven age categories. In addition to the very significant cash award, the commissioned work produced by the chosen young artist goes on to form part of the UTV Young Artist Collection. It will hang alongside the original UTV Collection in which works by a number of renowned Irish artists such as Basil Blackshaw, Gerard Dillon, and George Campbell are featured.

The Texaco Children's Art Competition is the longest-running event in the history of art sponsorship in Ireland - a fact recognised by the renowned Business2Arts organisation whose award 'best continuing sponsorship of the arts award' was presented to Texaco in 2002. Next year, 2004, will be a special anniversary in the history of the event marking, as it will, the 50th Anniversary of the competition. For this, a special programme is currently being developed to celebrate this milestone.