Horrible Halloween ghosts and scary sea monsters took pride of place at Claregalway College this week when the overall winners of a Cartoon Challenge for a group of lucky first year students were announced.

First years from the secondary school had taken part in a one-day cartooning workshop in Irish with artists Caoimhe Lavelle and Micheál O Fearraigh last month and they were given a two-week challenge to come up with cartoons of their own.

The ‘Dúshlán Cartún’ (Cartoon Challenge), now in its second year, is a partnership between Gaeltacht an Eachréidh and the Galway Cartoon Festival to provide enjoyable extracurricular activities for secondary school students ‘as Gaeilge’ in one of the weakest Gaeltacht areas in the country.

Cartoonists Caoimhe and Micheál travelled from Dublin to Coláiste Baile Chláir for an enjoyable one-hour workshop in Irish, before the students got a chance to visit some of the works on show during the Galway Cartoon Festival at An Taibhdhearc and Porter Shed in the city.

They then had two weeks to finish their own cartoons, with many opting for a Hallowe’en theme, before the winners were chosen by Margaret Nolan and Richard Chapman of the Galway Cartoon Festival last week.

The Irish Language Planning Officer for An Eachréidh, Ciarán Tierney, said there was “no such thing as a bad cartoon” and the prizes were for those who had put in the greatest effort and shown the greatest imagination, rather than for the “best” cartoons.

He presented overall winner Ava Wall with a €100 voucher for Cregal Art in Ballybane. Second placed Isabelle Walsh picked up a €50 voucher for Charlie Byrne’s bookshop and Eoin Moylan was awarded a €25 voucher for Powells, The Four Corners.

Cartoonists Margaret Nolan and Richard Chapman, from the Galway Cartoon Festival, joined Ciarán and teachers Emma Ryan and Eimear Doran for the presentation of prizes at the school this week.

“It was fantastic to see the superb quality of the cartoons which were submitted to us as part of the ‘Cartoon Challenge’,” said Ciarán. “Both the cartoonists and the youngsters got great fun out of the workshop here in Coláiste Baile Chláir in early October.

“Language planning is about making the learning of our native language more enjoyable and accessible for the next generation. It was brilliant to see how Caoimhe and Micheál engaged with the youngsters and that they were able to carry out the entire workshop ‘as Gaeilge’ during the festival.

“It is also brilliant to see that Galway Cartoon Festival is engaging more and more with communities in and around the city. Since its foundation eight years ago, this festival has really gone from strength to strength. Top illustrators now fly in from as far away as Hollywood to be a part of this festival.

“It is also fantastic that Feile Cartún na Gaillimhe gives such prominence to the Irish language, through their ‘Tarraing é i nGaeilge’ exhibition, each year. It has become an unmissable event in a city which already had quite a number of festivals throughout the year.”

Claregalway College is located in Gaeltacht An Eachréidh, which includes Annaghdown, Claregalway, and Carnmore. It is a co-educational, multi-denominational community college of over 1000 students, under the patronage of GRETB.

Pictured: First year students Isabelle Walsh, Eoin Moylan and Eva Wall from Coláiste Bhaile Chláir who were prizewinners in the Cartoon challenge with teacher Eimear Doran, Ciaran Tierney, language planning officer, Gaeltacht an Eachtraigh, Margaret Nolan and Richard Chapman, Galway Cartoon Festival, and deputy principal Emma Ryan. Photo: Brian Harding.