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PRESS RELEASE

See ‘African Elephants’ and ‘Love Hearts Falling From The Sky’

Sightsavers Ireland Open Junior Painter of the Year Exhibition

Sightsavers Ireland will open the first ever Junior Painter of the Year Exhibition in Airfield, Dundrum on Wednesday 10^th February. Nearly 2500 school children around the country entered the competition with a painting of ‘The Sight I Would Most Like To See’. Winners painted a variety of colourful and inspired images from ‘An African Elephant’ and ‘Sunset on the Giant’s Causeway’ to ‘My Dad’s Mammy’ and even ‘Love Hearts Falling from the Sky’ as some of the sights they would most like to see. Twelve regional winners and 3 commendation winners were chosen from the entries and their paintings will be displayed in the exhibition.

The competition, which ran from October to November 2009 and was open to all primary school children in Ireland, aimed to help children understand the difficulties of blindness for children around the world through the medium of art. The entries were judged by a panel including top Irish illustrator and author Niamh Sharkey and Irish Times Art Critic Aidan Dunne.

“The exhibition shows a great range of talent and imagination amongst Irish children. A visit to the exhibition makes a fun family or school outing where you can see the great paintings, explore Airfield and learn a little more about some of the challenges facing blind people in the developing world,” explained John Fleming, CEO of Sightsavers Ireland.

The initiative is supported by Eason.

Alan Johnston, Group Marketing Manager Eason said “This campaign is a fantastic way to engage children and educate them about the challenges young people are facing in the developing world. The paintings from the Sightsavers Junior Painter of the Year make for a wonderfully colourful, creative and educational display and this exhibition should not be missed.”

The Junior Painter of the Year Awards are supported by Eason and The Irish Times. The exhibition will be open from Wednesday 10^th February to Sunday 20^th February between 10am and 5pm.

Sightsavers Ireland works through local partners in 21 countries in the developing world to prevent and cure blindness and to support those who are permanently blind and visually impaired. Sightsavers also supports inclusive education programmes for children who are blind or visually impaired.

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