A Donegal schoolgirl has won the Ryanair/ISPCC Childline nationwide paper plane colouring competition.
Savannagh McGonagle, from 5th class in St Patrick’s Girls National School, Carndonagh, is delighted after her win and her school is €5,000 better off!
The competition was open to all primary schools across Ireland with pupils being invited to design a paper Ryanair plane and in turn make a donation to ISPCC Chidline (Ryanair’s 2016 Irish charity partner).
The competition received thousands of entries from across the country.
Donegal GAA star, Ryan McHugh, was on hand to surprise Savannagh and handed over a cheque for €500 to her and €5,000 to St Patrick’s Girls National School.
A large replica model Ryanair plane complete with Savannagh’s winning design was also made for her school.
St Patrick’s Girls National School’s Principal, Ailish Tully said “What an exciting start to our school year. From the start, this was a great competition to enter as our pupils really enjoyed the opportunity to let their imaginations “fly” and the teachers were delighted to use the process as a springboard for discussing how children could identify services like Childline for help as necessary.
“And then for Savannagh to win out of all the thousands of entries – wow! Our heartfelt thanks are due to Ryanair for the generous prize and also to Childline, Ryanair and Ryan McHugh for a back to school assembly we will not forget for a long time to come.”
Ryanair’s Head of Communications, Robin Kiely said “We are pleased to partner with ISPCC Childline to support the invaluable work they do each year, and our paper plane colouring competition was a great opportunity for school children across Ireland to directly support Childline. We congratulate Savannagh and her school for winning the competition and thank all those who took part. And we’ll be passing on the best entries to our aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, in case they need some new designs.”
ISPCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Grainia Long said “We would like to thank Ryanair for their ongoing support of ISPCC Childline and for this amazing competition which got schools all over the country involved. Congratulations to St Patrick’s Girls National School and to the artist Savannah McGonagle who designed the wonderful plane. We hope you enjoy your prize.”
