Finn MacMahon with Goldfish Telecom’s Gordon O’Neill FRI878MAY26

here’s a growing sense here at GG HQ that the town’s teens are just too cool these days for our annual Splash Of Colour kids art competition.

Clara with mum Alison FRI8MAY26

Even though it’s open to everyone up to 18 years of age, more and more, it’s the younger generation who are creating all the wonderful entries.

Still, we’ll survive. Especially when you have previous champs St Catherine’s once again pulling out all the stops with their early offerings, their controlled explosions of tint, tinge and tone nothing less than inspired, and inspiring.

By the end of the competition though, the public and the judges were pretty much of the same mind as two very wonderful entries took two very distinct and distant leads.

With Callum, Eva and Lauren also winning praise and fans, the public vote finally went to Clara Williams’ Sunrise On Easter Sunday, her use of paper, watercolour and clay along with gathered shells and stones – and a shoe box! – proving an instant hit from the moment we added it to the gallery.

For the judges, it was the last-minute entry of Finn MacMahon’s Day & Night, a rich tapestry of the town’s landmarks – from The Burnaby to The Beach Bear – that they felt caught with simple marker paints a true sense of Greystones.

“This was a painting that I thought about for a week or two before committing it to canvas,” Finn tells us, “but once I actually sat down to paint Day & Night, it only took about three hours. Mainly because I knew exactly what I wanted.

Finn, Gordon and Finn’s mum, Fiona FRI8MAY26

“Luckily for me, I come from a family of artists, so it’s very natural to just create. Well, I say we’re a family of artists, but my mum happily admits that her talents lay elsewhere…”

Says Clara of her winning entry, “My artwork is inspired by a picture that was taken at the Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday, just across from St David’s. This was after the service with myself and my three friends. The reason I chose this picture is because when I look at it, I think of Greystones.”

And now, whenever she looks at a beautiful Greystones sunrise, there’s every chance Clara will think of Enso Pizza, big boss man Tim kindly presenting her with the prize of a €50 voucher this afternoon. Just as, half an hour earlier, big boss man Gordon O’Neill at Goldfish Telecoms down at the harbour had presented the prize of a €50 voucher to the very happy Finn.

Result!

Big thanks to Tim and to Gordon for being part of our Splash Of Colour kids art competition once again, and big congrats to Clara and Finn, and all those who took part.

You can check out the full gallery of 2026 entries here, and jump back through the years here.