The Convent of Mercy Secondary School Roscommon town won the “Best Musical Number” accolade at the Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards for their performance of “Be Our Guest”.
The students saw off St. Aidan’s Community School from Tallaght and Holy Rosary College Mountbellew to take the title.
Now in its fourth year, the Awards were set up by Bord Gáis Energy to recognise and reward participation in the dramatic arts in schools around Ireland. This year, 2616 entries were received from a record 309 primary and secondary schools.
Open to primary school pupils from 3rd – 6th class and all secondary school students, the Awards featured 12 categories including performance and production categories such as Best Overall School Musical, Best Costumes, and Best Performance in a Leading Role to written categories such as Best Dramatic Review and Best Short Scene Script. A new category, Best Original Production, was also added to the 2017 Awards in appreciation of the exceptional quality of original productions entered in 2016.
Last year St. Michael’s Special School, Castlerea was awarded top honours in the Best Set category for the set design in the school’s production of ‘A Shepherd’s Song’.
Commenting on the Awards, Dave Kirwan Managing Director, Bord Gáis Energy said:
“We set up these Awards four years ago to recognise and reward the incredible effort that goes into schools’ drama all around Ireland at both primary and secondary level. Today was about celebrating all the hard work that the students, teachers and parents put into schools’ drama whether it is acting, writing or directing.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our winners today and everyone who entered this year’s Awards – the talent, creativity and enthusiasm shown by students, teachers and parents has been exceptional!”
Application dates for the 2018 Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards will be announced in the coming months. Schools who wish to enter next year’s awards can register their interest now on bgesta.ie