Multimedia entry wins school John Byrne artwork

AS school competitions go, the prize was a little bit special.

A group of youngsters from Currie Community High have scooped first place in a new contest named after Scots artist and playwright John Byrne.

As well as a huge 7000 prize for their school, they also received a one-off print, presented by the man himself.

The city's inaugural John Byrne Award, which was set up and funded by Edinburgh oil entrepreneur Andrew Paterson, also saw pupils from James Gillespie's High School take both second and third prizes of 2000 and 1000 respectively.

The competition, which is open to all sixth year pupils at Edinburgh schools, aims to encourage youngsters to challenge society's values. They were tasked with constructing a presentation using a range of media - film, prose, music and art - based on late Scottish trade union leader Jimmy Reid's 1972 rectorial address on "alienation".

Co-ordinator of The John Byrne Award, Steve Small, who said the intention was to make the award an annual competition, said: "The pupils were given the speech as a starting point and told to come up with some kind of response - a film, song or painting, for example."

The four-strong team from Currie High, consisting of sixth year pupils Terri Steel, Beth Cairns, Hannah Smith and Calum McCulloch, produced a short documentary film which explored the themes of greed, selfishness, alienation and participation.

They also submitted a painting which showed a black figure with a green Mohican haircut.

Terri, 17, who lives in Balerno, said: "The painting was about self-alienation and a common way of alienating yourself is by acting differently. An example of that is the punk movement and that is represented by the Mohican.

"I think we were all quite shocked when we found out we had won, it was a big surprise and we really didn't expect it."

Paisley-born Mr Byrne, 71, who wrote the 1987 TV series Tutti Frutti, has a home in Edinburgh and helped judge the competition as well as attending the presentation ceremony.

Senior depute headteacher at Currie High School, Percy Farren, added: "I'm absolutely delighted, particularly for the kids, because they put an awful lot of work into their entry and produced a film that was absolutely marvellous."

Each entry in the competition also had to be supported with a verbal presentation of between five and ten minutes before a panel of judges.

The majority of the prize money - 5000 - is to be spent on a local community project, with the remaining 2000 to be used to buy educational materials for the pupils.

Mr Farren said: "We haven't made any final decisions but we are seriously considering giving a donation to local charity the Octagon Club, which supports disabled adults."

Entries were also received from Boroughmuir High, Broughton High, Liberton High, Queensferry High and Wester Hailes Education Centre.

Mr Farren added: "I am immensely proud of these four young people and know that the values that we all hold so dear are safe in their hands."