TY Talk: Black and white and knitted plastic bags all over

The Coca-Cola Form and Fusion Design Awards is an innovative and groundbreaking competition that has been incredibly successful since its creation in 1998. It allows students in the TY or LCA programme in schools to create a dramatic, crazy or symbolic costume with just one catch - it has to be made entirely of recyclable material.

My school, Presentation Secondary Kilkenny, participates every year, and every Transition Year student is obliged to take part. In September we were divided into 14 teams, and we had to be as imaginative as possible in the creation of our costumes.

The ideas varied greatly, ranging from costumes based on waterfalls and mud monsters to river pollution and even Cruella De Ville! All sorts of materials were used, including plastic, bottlecaps, Hula Hoops, Brillo pads, showercaps, sweet wrappers, straws . . . the list is endless. The fantastic thing about this competition is that anything goes: there are no limits or boundaries.

The creativity unfolded under the guidance of Sheena McKeown, our inspiring teacher. We had until January to complete our costumes, after which they were judged.

Unfortunately, only three costumes from each school are allowed through to the regional finals. This meant our creations had to be judged before we left Kilkenny. One Friday afternoon we had to don our costumes, apply (lots of!) dramatic make-up to the unlucky models, and pose for the camera. Independent judges, organised by Sheena McKeown, examined the photographs.

After the three costumes were chosen, these went to compete in the Leinster heats. My own creation, made with two teammates, made the cut, along with "Forces of Nature", a costume based on the evils of river pollution and environmental damage, and "Aisling", based on a traditional Irish dancing costume.

"Nothing is Ever Black and White" is the title of our costume, as it is a coat made entirely of knitted black and white plastic bags. It took five months to complete, as it was incredibly time-consuming!

After a lot of work to get the costumes completed, on February 23rd we headed for Dublin to the regional finals. We all had a great day, and although none of our school's entrants made it to the final 35, there was consolation in the fact that our costume won an award for 'Best Overall Design'.

The competition is very enjoyable, and I highly recommend taking part in it if you have the opportunity. Best of luck to all competitors in the final on April 21st.