Overall winner of Teagasc Forest Photo Competition announced
From the beautiful location of the Phoenix Park, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett today Tuesday, 8 December, announced the overall winner of the Teagasc forest photo competition entitled ‘Celebrating Our Forests’. The worthy winner is Ms. Jane Walsh from Rosses Point in County Sligo. Jane’s winning image, entitled ‘The Beauty Around Us’, was captured while she was on a ‘simple yet beautiful walk on a gorgeous day in Hazelwood’ just outside Sligo town. As the overall competition winner, Jane receives vouchers valued at €750, bringing her overall prize to a value of €1,000.
In congratulating the competition winner, Minister Hackett said: “Jane’s photograph is just beautiful. It shows clearly why trees and water are so important to our lives, our surroundings and our well-being. The scene is tranquil, the colours are stunning and we are left wanting just to be there! I want to congratulate Jane and thank both Teagasc for organising this photography competition and my Department for its promotion of the many positive aspects of trees.”
Commenting on the conclusion of the competition, Dr Nuala Ni Fhlatharta, Head of the Teagasc Forestry Development Department said: “Teagasc is delighted to have hosted this forest photo competition, which received well over 1,000 wonderful images from all age groups and from enthusiastic participants across the country. Congratulations to Jane and other category winners. The various categories were selected to highlight many important forest benefits and to create awareness of our forest resource across a wide audience. It has been very gratifying is to read participant comments, with many saying that local forests have been a great resource during current restrictions.”
Teagasc Forestry Specialist Tom Houlihan, who co-ordinated the initiative said: “Teagasc sincerely thanks all participants who submitted such a range of high quality images for each of the four categories in this competition. I would also like to thank the competition judging panel who had such a challenging task in selecting the winning images. Based on the success of this initiative, Teagasc plan to launch a new photo competition in 2021 that will incorporate new themes and further competition categories.”
The winning photos from the Teagasc Photo Competition, along with a selection of highly commended forest landscape photo entries can now be viewed on the forestry section of the Teagasc website at www.teagasc.ie/forestphotos
