A teenager from Dún Laoghaire in Dublin is the overall winner of this year's Zurich Young Portrait Prize for his work 'Self-Portrait'.
Ruaidhrí Condon, 15, was announced as the winner during a prize-giving ceremony at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin this afternoon.
His portrait was done in oil on canvas which he used for the first time.
He has described the win as "surreal and amazing".
Ruaidhrí said: "I started with the eyes because I think the eyes are the most important part of the face and you can identify how a person is feeling just by looking at them.
"I painted on a large canvas so that I could add fine details and make myself as recognisable as possible. I used many different colours to get the right skin tones."
The third-year student said he has been doing art from a young age and it comes naturally to him. He added that he is inspired by things and people around him.
Isabel Brogan, aged six, won the youngest category with 'Isabel and her technicoloured dream jumper', a painting of pencil, paint and paint pens on card.
In the second category, seven-year-old Adam Wiercioch Chinatamunnee won with his portrait titled 'My Father' which he created for Father’s Day and his mother consequently entered for this competition.
His collage included gel prints, marker and newspaper on paper.
Travel with Optimism by Estella Morrissey, aged 15, was the winner of the category for ages 12-15 while 16 year old Gianna Fitzgibbon won the final category with Portrait of My Baby Brother.
Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: "This year’s shortlists for the Zurich Portrait Prize and the Zurich Young Portrait Prize give a sense of the diversity of modern Ireland and its diaspora, and the means of representation open to its artists."
Dublin fine art photographer and filmmaker David Stephenson has been awarded this year's Zurich Portrait Prize at a ceremony tonight.
He won the top prize for his portrait of Ann and Ollie in Wexford which portrays the separation and connection during Covid lockdowns.
He said he took the portrait while he was recovering from Covid.
"During lockdown, I made a short film in which I tried to portray what we all experienced: the isolation that enhanced one's sense of aloneness. Something of that silence and separateness resonates in this image.
"What drew my eye was Ann’s red coat, the condensation that made a ghost of Ollie, and how they were separated yet connected by the cracked paint of the window frame. These details made a transitory stage suffused with pristine light, the same ordinary light that falls into every window on every street."
Mr Stephenson is currently working on a film and photographic project titled Main Street, Bray and his work has been exhibited at many galleries.
As well as a prize of €15,000, the artist will be commissioned to produce a new work for the National Portrait Collection.
