Offaly school earns runner-up prize in 'budding gardeners' competition

Students from Scoil Bhríde, Clara, have won the runners-up prize at the recently announced Woodie’s Budding Gardener contest. The Special Needs Class students were guided by their teacher Ms Joanne Fox for their project ‘Butterfly Dreams’, which won them a €500 Woodie’s gift card.

The competition, which is in its sixth year, was adjudicated by Woodie's garden expert Brian Burke. The contest encourages children across Ireland to get their hands in the soil and work on a garden project at home or school. The aim is to learn about the importance of plants along the way.

The overall Woodie’s Budding Gardeners top prize went to ten-year-old Matthew Cahir from Ennis in County Clare for his ‘Matthew’s Supergarden’ entry, winning a cash prize of €1,000.

Other runners’ up included brother and sister Fiadh (age 6) and Oisín (age 7) Murphy from Rathpeacon in County Cork, five-year-old Lucy Murphy from Drumshanbo in County Leitrim, Mr Steven Maguire’s second-class students from Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha in Kildare and Banogue National School in Limerick.

Speaking about the creative and colourful entries from this year’s competition Brian said: "The originality, talent, and imagination shown by young gardeners across Ireland is truly remarkable, and the care, effort, and attention to detail evident in every entry continues to amaze us year after year. We received submissions from all over the country, including some wonderfully inventive and eye-catching homemade pots. A huge well done to everyone who entered.”