Tag Archives: competition

We’ve teamed up with Wilde Irish Chocolates to give one lucky reader the chance to win a fantastic Jumbo 1kg Easter Hamper. Pick up a copy of this week’s ‘Champion to enter. From tomorrow, we’ll also be giving away an Easter Egg a day for the next six days in our Eggcellent series of giveaways. Keep an eye on our page from Friday.  

Limerick native, Leo O’Connor, Clare Champion Business Development Manager and Clare hurler, David Reidy, who has just joined our advertising team with one of the last few pairs of tickets for Sunday’s match. Go to our facebook page before Friday for the chance to win the pair.    

FIFTEEN year old Shannon girl Alice McGrath is in the final of Teenstars an All Ireland singing competition which will come to a conclusion on May 3. It will be on in the Westgrove Hotel in Kildare and Alice is one of just 32 remaining entrants from 1,200 who entered, meaning she is in the top three per cent. She is the only Clare finalist and the winner will pick up a €5,000 prize. Her mother Martina McGrath told the Clare Champion that Alice has sang a number of songs to reach this stage. ” In the first round she sang an Etta James song. To get through to the All Ireland final she sang I’d Rather Go Blind which is an Etta James song as well and for the final she’s going to sing A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cook.”  

THE Clare Champion Short Story Competition has just been launched and entries for the ninth annual contest are now being sought. Open to second level students, the  long running competition has gone from strength to strength each year, with in excess of 270 entries received last year from secondary school students across the county.  Short stories can be on any subject and should be approximately 1,000 to 1,500 words long. There are two entry categories for the competition, Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate, but entries are open to those from first year to sixth year students. Full details are on posters that are being sent to schools this week. The first prize in each category is €300, second prize is €200, and third prize is €100. There are also awards for those highly commended and all those shortlisted will have their stories published in The Clare Champion. The Clare Champion short story competition aims to recognise the talents of young …

THE 70TH annual Scariff Show took place last weekend and the competition was as fierce as ever for this milestone year. Among the events was a special dog category event, helping East Clare Musical Society select a suitable dog actor for their forthcoming production of Annie. Four candidates were selected to play the role of Sandy and, after a trial period working with these dogs, one lucky canine will be selected to perform in December. The shortlisted entries included Jessie, owned by Paul Brooks; Monty, owned by Eleanor Walsh; Sammy, owned by Caroline Ford; and Muffy, owned by Holly Sturton, who will play the role of Annie for the production. The top four dogs will work with a trainer, once rehearsals begin. Chorus rehearsals begin on Tuesday at 8pm in the music room at Scariff Community College. Anyone interested in getting involved are asked to come along, new members are always welcome.   Carol Byrne

ENNIS residents are being urged to ensure that the town is looking its best this May with judges for the Ireland’s Best Kept Town Competition set to visit. Aine Purcell, chairperson of the Ennis Tidy Towns committee explained that the competition is separate to the national Tidy Towns competition which starts in June. And she said that strong efforts are being made locally to give judges for the Best Kept Town a good impression of our county’s capital. Ennis will be competing in the large urban centre category. The Ireland’s Best Kept Towns Awards ceremony will take place in S S Nomadic, Titanic Quarter, Belfast on Tuesday, June 24 at 12.30pm. This North-South competition commenced in 1995 and is organised jointly by the Department of Environment and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council (NIAC), a voluntary organisation. The competition provides an opportunity for some of the high achievers in the national Tidy Towns competition in the South, and the NIAC’s Best …

FOTA Wildlife Park in Cork have just unveiled their latest arrivals, the yet to be named, 5ft tall male and female giraffes born at the end of January. The first born was the female calf on January 25 to mother, Bláithín and father, Walder.Two days later, a male calf was born to mother, Sapphire and father Tadhg. They now become the youngest of a herd of Rothschild giraffe at Fota, which are one of nine races of giraffe found in Africa. To celebrate the births Fota Wildlife Park has set up a competition inviting the public and schools to come up with an Irish name for the calves, which has become a tradition The competition to name the giraffe calves is open to everyone via the education section on Fotawildlife.ie. The winning name suggestion by a class will result in a class tour behind the scenes at the park, including some of the giraffes inside their house.  

With rehearsals running into the earlier hours over the past couple of weeks, there is great excitement in the countdown to the opening performance of The Calendar Girls at Glór next week. Expectations are high that the Ennis Players’ production will draw full houses for the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night performances. In celebrating its 40th anniversary, the local drama group decided to give something back to the community for their loyal support. Cahercalla Hospice, Sláinte An Chláir, West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Care Centre and the Alzheimers’ Day Care Centre in Ennis were selected to benefit from the proceeds of the four special performances. Speaking to The Clare Champion, media sponsors for the project, Ennis Players chairperson, Jackie Scanlon, commented, “We are delighted to present Tim Firth’s hilarious and thought-provoking play, The Calendar Girls, to Ennis audiences and further afield. “Directed by Allen Flynn, the play tells the story of a group of English ladies who had the ingenious …