€100 prize and ‘Greta Award’ up for grabs in Inishowen essay competition

There’s a €100 prize on offer for the best essay by an Inishowen secondary school student in a budding environmentalist competition organised by the Buncrana Tidy Towns Initiative.

“The essay topic is ‘My Family’s Efforts at Living More Sustainably’,” Seamus McLaughlin – a retired secondary school English teacher and long-standing member of the local tidy towns group – said. “It’s open to all Transition Year students in Inishowen, and there’s a €100 prize for the best essay.”

As well as the cash prize, the winner will be presented with ‘The Greta Award’, a unique metal sculpture created by renowned sculptor Maurice Herron.

The essay should be between 900 and 1,200 words in length and submitted “any day before the Easter holidays,” Mr McLaughlin said, taking a more relaxed approach to deadlines than he did with students when he taught in Scoil Mhuire.

Last year’s competition was won by Eva Van Dessel from Crana College, who wrote an essay on the same sustainability topic.

Read more: Carndonagh Tidy Towns plant fruit bushes through the town

To enter the competition, students from Carndonagh Community School, Coláiste Eoghain, Crana College, Moville Community College or Scoil Mhuire should type their essay and submit it to their school’s Transition Year co-ordinator.

“The essay competition is now in its 11th year,” Mr McLaughlin concluded. “It’s a great way to raise the consciousness of the Tidy Towns Initiative, and making the connection with teenagers is something the national judges often comment upon and commend us for.”

Buncrana has been Donegal's Tidiest Town for the past four years. Last year, it won a Gold Medal in the national competition and was just two points off the overall winner – Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim.