Mullingar designer wins major award

A young designer from Mullingar has won a major Crafts Council of Ireland award for her skills - and a cheque for €2,500 to help her continue her studies. Niamh Mulligan, daughter of Ellen and Frank Mulligan, is a student on the Crafts Council of Ireland Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design course in Kilkenny. Niamh won one of the just two Future Maker student awards made this year, on the basis of her creativity, innovation, skill and craftsmanship."The Niamh Mulligan (Student at the Crafts Council of Ireland Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design Course) from Westmeath was recently announced a winner of the Crafts Council of Ireland's Future Maker Student Award 2010 at a special award ceremony in the National Museum of Ireland (Collins Barracks) that celebrated future Irish craft makers.The Crafts Council says the awards are intended to reward and benchmark excellence.