Clúdach: Cover

[View Cover Image]

The covers of our fifteenth volume will take note of the growing interest in the Irish childhood among Irish Studies scholars by presenting images created by Ireland’s youngest artists, its children.

Our source for these charming and forceful artworks is the Texaco Children’s Art Competition, an annual event that has become a permanent feature in the lives of Irish boys and girls from preschool age into adolescence. First held in 1955, the Texaco Children’s Art Competition now attracts approximately 30,000 entries each year, in six age categories and also a special needs category; it is accurately said that the competition touches the lives of virtually every Irish family with school-aged children. We encourage readers to visit the extensive website of the competition at http://www.texacochildrensart.com/index.php. The site includes much more information on the contest and its history, and dozens of attractive full-color images of winning entries from the current and previous contests.

The image on our Spring cover, titled “Still Life of Orchids,” was created by Finn O’Reilly, an eight-year-old student at Glasnevin Educate Together in Dublin when it was selected as the winning entry for the age 7–8 category in the 2010 competition.

We congratulate Finn O’Reilly, and thank Chevron (Ireland) Limited, the sponsors of the competition, and especially brand specialist Annemarie Barnes, for kind assistance in providing this and other cover images, and for help in preparing our cover notes