If this is what North-South co-operation is going to be like, Bertie Ahern might need to do some renegotiating. With the ink barely dry on the Stormont agreement, Northerners have painted rings around their Southern counterparts in the latest edition of the Texaco National Children's Art Competition, confirming the potential suggested by three decades of gable-wall painting.
Mind you, wall-painting is about as far as you could get from the dense pencil drawing which won the overall prize and a £1,000 scholarship for Laura McKenzie (16), from Carrickfergus College, Co Antrim. "Stones and moss," she explained to some puzzled viewers, although the power of the work was obvious.
A more accessible picture in every sense was that by Angela Morgan (13), from St Dominic's High School, on the Falls Road in Belfast. Her painting of an old lantern won the prize for the 13-to-14 age group, and has a link to the North's most famous art form.
The other Northern winner was Fiona Diamond, who scooped the prize in the 9-to-11 age group for St Louise's Comprehensive School, Belfast. But the concept of parity of esteem was salvaged somewhat by Ian Carter of Gorey Community School in Co Wexford, who beat Belfast's Victoria Mills to the award for 14- and 15-year-olds; and by Maeve O'Connor from Blackrock, Co Dublin, who won the section for 7- and 8-year-olds.
The youngest winner was Cumhai Quigley (5), from St Vincent de Paul Infant School, Marino, Dublin. Although some critics prefer his earlier stuff, Cumhai's multi-coloured collage of a boy in a T-shirt won the under-6 section and earned praise from the judge.
A typically moody artist, Cumhai was tight-lipped about his success, leaving comment to his sister, Sara (7), also an artist. Asked to assess her brother's work, Sara said: "He can draw dogs better than me." This talent may come in handy: Cumhai wants to be a vet when he grows up.
