Juthika Bhakta pictured with her painting of Dunluce Castle at the opening ceremony of the exhibition in Belfast's Royal Ulster Academy of Arts in June featuring the 126 winning paintings from this year’s 68th Texaco Children's Art competition.

A prizewinning painting by 13-year old student Juthika Bhakta, from The Arthouse, Drogheda, has been chosen to illustrate the 2023 Texaco Children’s Art Competition Calendar. 

One of 13 selected to illustrate the publication, her piece, entitled ‘Dunluce Castle’ will appear during the month of May and will be seen in thousands of homes throughout Ireland during the coming year. 

Winning a Special Merit Award in the 2022 competition, it was one of a number said by a competition adjudicator to perfectly illustrate the incredible skill, creativity and imagination that many of our young artists possess and the important role schools have in encouraging their students through art education. 

Calendars are currently available through a select number of Texaco service stations and through Texoil, Valero’s own home heating oil division.