Excellence Awards 2008

The prize winners were selected from the 14,000 students throughout Ireland who took part in the school's music and drama exams this year.

Maurice Wright has been named the overall winner at the National Excellence Awards competition; he studies at the Independent Theatre Workshop (ITW) in Ranelagh, Dublin and was nominated for his piece Karamazoo by Philip Ridley (which he performed at the awards) as well as The Passion of Jerome by Dermot Bulger.

Ryan Andrews, who currently stars in the Clinic and Fair City on RTE, took second place in the competition. Andrews is also a student at the ITW in Ranelagh and was nominated for his piece "Round and Round the Garden" by Alan Aykbourn.

The overall winner for music was Ciara Sheehan - from the Kilshanna Music Studio in Cork who performed her LSMD Grade two piece "Sonata in C by Clementon" at the Excellence Awards ceremony, held in Griffith College auditorium.

The overall winners received the LSMD cup and a cheque for €300 each. The quarter finalists for Speech & Drama were Ryan Andrews and Toni Webb, Dublin, and Allanah Scully, Meath; and for Music, Lisa O‘Brien, Waterford, Siobhán Clarke, Meath and Niamh Finn, Waterford. They won €100 each and silver medals.

A packed audience enjoyed the performances at the ceremony.

The adjudicators for Speech & Drama were Anne Simpson and Bernadette Garvey. The adjudicators for Music were Mabel Swainson and Florance Ryan.