Young Creatives Art Competition - Highlanes 20

What to Expect

This is the first Young Creatives Art Competition Highlanes Gallery has run, staged to mark its 20th year. The open call went to children and young adults under 18, with entrants asked to work to a brief around identity and the environment, and the resulting selection now fills the gallery for almost three months.

Judging was handed to the gallery’s own young people. Members of AMPLIFY, the Highlanes panel of creatives aged 18 to 30, adjudicated the entries and picked both the Exceptional Talent award and the category prizes, with input from IGNITE, the panel for ages 12 to 18. That makes the show a useful barometer of what young artists in the north east are making and thinking about, and it runs alongside Picturing the Border in the same building, so a single free visit covers both.

Good to Know

• Dates: Saturday 8 August to Saturday 31 October 2026
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM, times subject to change
• Venue: Highlanes Gallery, 36 Saint Laurence Street, Drogheda
• Price: admission is free
• Entrants were aged under 18, adjudicated by the AMPLIFY panel aged 18 to 30
• Groups of eight or more should book ahead
• Contact the gallery on 041 980 3311 or info@highlanes.ie

Getting There

Highlanes Gallery is at 36 Saint Laurence Street in the middle of Drogheda, in a converted Franciscan friary church a minute’s walk from the Tholsel and West Street. Drivers coming from Dublin, Dundalk or Navan leave the M1 at junction 9 or 10 and follow signs for the town centre. The gallery recommends on-street parking or the Laurence Shopping Centre car park nearby, with the larger Scotch Hall car park across the Boyne. Drogheda MacBride railway station is roughly 15 minutes on foot, and Bus Éireann and Matthews coach services stop on the Dublin Road and at the Donore Road bus station.