Arts student hits the right note with design for new Irish Music Award
A Cavan student from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) hit the right note with the winning design for a new trophy that will be awarded to music artists with a number one single or album, on the IRMA Official Chart.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) worked in partnership with NCAD in its search for an eye-catching trophy design for this new musical award, opening the competition to teams of NCAD students.
A total of 27 NCAD students took part in the competition, including Mullagh native Kate McKenna, working in small design teams that aimed to conceive and develop an innovative new design. The final designs were then evaluated by competition judges including Bláthnaid Treacy, presenter of the weekly National Charts Show on RTÉ 2FM every Friday evening, and representatives of the Official Charts Company, who compile the Irish music charts.
Kate McKenna and her team-mate Katie O’Brien scooped the design prize, and both recently partook in a photocall at RTÉ with presenter Bláthnaid Treacy and the trophy prototype. Kate, 22, hails from Mullagh and previously attended Bailieborough Community School before taking up a place on the Bachelor of Science Product Design degree course in NCAD. She said that the pair – who are classmates - had previously worked together on several other projects, and were delighted when they got the news.
“I play the classic accordion and have won awards; I love music and I love to design so this was perfect!” Kate said.
A member of the Accora Orchestra Group in Mullagh, Kate has previously travelled to Austria, Germany and Croatia with the group and in 2019 they won a world award for their performance. She has previously played the classic accordion – which differs from the Irish box accordion and is more in the Italian style and tradition – in competitions for soloists. Kate’s parents Maeve and Brendan McKenna, and her siblings Ciarán, Sarah and Cormac are “very proud” of her achievements, according to Kate.
“Oh yea, they are delighted!” she said. Currently on the hunt for a summer job, Kate will complete her fourth and final year in NCAD this coming September.
Willie Kavanagh, Chairman of IRMA commented: “We are absolutely delighted with the new trophy design and we were blown away with the quality of the designs that the NCAD students developed. This is a really important new award for music artists and it is open to Irish and international artists alike.”
Irish rock band Inhaler were the first recipient of the award when their new album “It Won’t Always Be Like This” went to number one in the Irish charts in mid July.