Northern Ireland

Co Tyrone pupil secures `out of this world' trip for class

Stephen Clements and Cate Conway from Q Radio pictured with Lucy Lyons and her P6 class of St Mary's Primary School, Ballygawley
Stephen Clements and Cate Conway from Q Radio pictured with Lucy Lyons and her P6 class of St Mary's Primary School, Ballygawley Stephen Clements and Cate Conway from Q Radio pictured with Lucy Lyons and her P6 class of St Mary's Primary School, Ballygawley

A P6 pupil from Co Tyrone has secured an out of this world trip to London for her class thanks to an inventive picture of what the world will look like in 2028.

The Aer Lingus Art for Schools Competition, run in partnership with The Irish News and Q Radio, was open to pupils in Primaries 4 to 7.

Judges were looking for bold imagination and eye-catching designs that jumped off the page.

Lucy Lyons from St Mary's Primary School, Ballygawley gave a "detailed view of the world which took the form of an Irish News front page" and ensured her entry stood out.

She and her fellow pupils first learned of their win through a surprise visit from Q Radio breakfast presenters Stephen Clements and Cate Conway, who broadcast their show live from the school yesterday.

The entire class will now fly from George Best Belfast City Airport to London Heathrow and spend the day at the Science Museum, where they will take a virtual reality space descent with astronaut Tim Peake and visit `Tomorrow's World'.

Lucy said: "I could not believe it when I got to school this morning and discovered I was the winner. My classmates were all chanting my name and I was completely shocked. We can’t wait to get on a plane and go to London. It is going to be the best day ever."

Joining the pupils in their celebrations, St Mary's principal Damien Cullen said there had been "unbelievable excitement in the school this morning, for both pupils and staff".

Andrea Hunter, judge and business development manager at Aer Lingus, said: "We were overwhelmed with the calibre and creativity of the entries from all the participating schools but Lucy delivered entirely on the brief.

"The judges loved her imagination and in particular her predictions that robots would be hired to do housework, we would be able to wear the Northern Lights and that Aer Lingus would install onboard swimming pools."

"We would like to thank all of the schools who entered and the pupils who offered us a glimpse into how exciting their futures will be."

A P5 class from St Teresa's Primary School, Lurgan will meanwhile enjoy a day trip to the Armagh Planetarium to learn about the solar system and space exploration thanks to Caileigh-Eryn Magee's entry which secured the runners-up prize.

Irish News marketing manager John Brolly said: "This was a fantastic opportunity for us to link up with Aer Lingus to allow children to really express themselves by creating what they think the world is going to look like in 2028.

"It was amazing to visually see that children were really up for the challenge to 'design the future' and the art submissions were inspiring to judge."