LEGO Master James wins gold for his Newgrange model
James Sturgeon with Lorcan Scott (Wildlife Officer with the Heritage Council) and Jessica Farrell (LEGO®Brick Artist and competition judge).
Young James Sturgeon and his family from Glanduff are true LEGO Masters.
Recently seven-year-old James and his two sisters entered a competition organised by the Heritage Council, which tasked children with recreating their favourite example of Irish heritage using LEGO® and to explain what their chosen subject meant to them.
A First Class pupil at Glanduff NS in South Roscommon, James won gold with this model of Newgrange in the 4-7 year-olds section in the category of Built Heritage.
His sister Anna (11), who is in Fifth Class also took a runner-up prize for her impressive model of Dr Hyde Park while another sibling, Fourth Class pupil Roisin (10) also entered the competition with her model of Fastnet Lighthouse.
Their mother Fiona said that the family got their love of LEGO from their dad Gary and the three children starting playing with it at a young age.
Commenting on his model James said: “‘I chose Newgrange because we went on a family trip there and I loved it. I loved the way it was designed and that it is still standing after 5000 years.” His mother estimated that it took him several days to build his piece, but there was plenty of LEGO in the house after Santa’s visit at Christmas.
The family are fans of the TV show LEGO Masters and were delighted that former contestant on the show Jessica Farrell was a judge on the day. She now works full time as a LEGO Brick Artist. Commenting on James’ model she said: “James has used just the right elements to create this amazingly accurate little model, which captures the current day look of Newgrange in a very neat and compact way. Great job.” The competition finale, took place at Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile Museum on Saturday, January 27th the eve of World LEGO Day.
More than 150 entries were received from across country, with entrants turning to all aspects of Ireland’s rich and varied built, natural and cultural heritage for inspiration. The competition was open to children aged between four and twelve years, with two age categories: 4-to-7-years, and 8-to-12-years.
Children were asked to build their model, choose their category, write a short description of what their model represented and why it was important to them, and then take a photo of the model and submit it via the Heritage Council website.
Winners of both categories took home a ‘How to build LEGO® dinosaurs’ book and an OPW Heritage Card, while winners in the 4-7-year-old categories were awarded a LEGO® classic set, with a LEGO® creator set going to the winners of the older categories.
The Cliffs of Moher, a piano accordion, and Phil Lynott were among some of the other winning models.
The winning entries are now on display at a special exhibition at Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile Museum. The exhibition runs until February 8th.
