Winners Revealed For Wicklow's Creative Christmas Decoration Competition.

Each winner was presented with a voucher for Beyond the Trees in Avondale.

Prizes for the annual Christmas Decoration Competition were presented by Wicklow County Council at a reception held on Tuesday last.

The aim of the competition is to create a Christmas decoration out of junk items that would normally end up in the bin, with nothing added except imagination. The competition is open to all primary schools in County Wicklow.

Each student submitted their decorations in school from which the best was selected for the county final.

The winners ranged in age from 6 to 12, with all of them showing skill, creativity and great innovation in the decorations they created. There was a great diversity of ideas on display covering a range of Christmas themes, but also great diversity in use of materials.

Christmas trees were a common theme coming in all shapes and sizes and made from cardboard, coffee cups, toothpicks, plastic bottle tops, metal lids and paper with some great ideas for use of junk items to add glitz.

Textiles featured strongly this year including a repurposed sock, a hand stitched polar bear, a colourful wreath and a shoe reimagined as Rudolf. Stars were created from intricately cut paper and a clever piece of engineering from plastic bottle ends.

Some entries chose to recreate a whole Christmas scene, one made from ice lolly sticks, another from a fruit box and a bird cage made from a cereal box stuffed full of the most beautifully crafted pieces of art. Snowmen, penguins, Santa Claus and an angel all made an appearance while one of the youngest contestants made tinfoil gloves to keep her angel’s hands warm.

Each winner was presented with a voucher for Beyond the Trees in Avondale.

Leas Cathaoirleach, Cllr Aoife Flynn Kennedy, paid tribute to the students and offered her thanks to the schools of County Wicklow and the teaching staff for nurturing a strong sense of environmental stewardship through the Green Schools Programme.

The Christmas decoration competition for schools has been an annual tradition in Wicklow since 2005. It continues year after year to put a focus on waste at Christmas as everyone can take steps to reduce waste and make better use of our resources.

Christmas Tree Decorations winners:

1. Alice O Brien, Sacred Heart NS
2. Parker Cannon, Sacred Heart NS
3. Alanna Healy, St Mary’s and Gerard’s NS
4. Annabelle Griffiths,  Delgany NS
5. Megan Ferris, The Glebe NS
6. Anna Kravchenko, The Glebe NS
7. Lily Callagy, The Glebe NS
8. Ayshea Nolan, Wicklow Montessori NS
9. Anika Smith, St Brigid’s NS
10. Anna Russell, Greystones Educate Together
11. Lara Doyle, Greystones Educate Together
12. Oisin Kilbride, Coolafancy NS
13. Aileen Mulhall, Coolafancy NS
14. Alisha Quinn,  Scoil Mhuire Realt na Mara
15. Iona Mae Smith, St Francis’s NS
16. Maia Johnson, Carysfort NS
17. Evanna O Halloran, Kilcoole Primary School
18. Lauren Martin, Scoil Mhuire Realt na Mara
19. Eabha Pippet, Gael  Scoil Chill Mhantain
20. Milo Joyce,  Gael Scoil Chill Mhantain