Talented youngsters from Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire have seen their work go on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art after winning awards in a nationwide contest.


Lily Belle McEwan, of Paisley Grammar, Idrees Wajid, of Mary Russell School, also in Paisley, and Lucy Cairns, of Belmont House School, in Newton Mearns, visited Edinburgh to celebrate their success in the Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools.


Lucy took first place in the S1 to S3 category, while Lily received a special merit. Idrees was awarded third place in the category for additional support schools.


Following a prize-giving ceremony at Stuart Melville College’s Dean Church in the capital, the talented pupils saw their winning entries go on display to the public for the first time.


The competition, which is run by the National Galleries of Scotland and supported by Tesco Bank, attracted 8,000 entries from children across Scotland, ensuring a difficult judging process.


The 53 winning entries will remain on display at the National Galleries of Scotland until September 16, prior to touring various locations around the country.


The range of prizes span from art materials for the winners to special art workshops for 12 lucky participating schools.


Linda McClelland MBE, Playfair Education Co-ordinator at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “If you need cheering up just come along and see the 53 winning works of art from this year’s competition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.


“As ever the work by these young artists from all over Scotland is astonishingly good.”


Chris Sibbald, head of communications at Tesco Bank, said: “We are committed to giving children the opportunity to express their creativity and, on behalf of Tesco Bank, I’d like to congratulate the competition winners of the Competition and also thank the thousands of other children who entered and made the judging process so difficult.”