Pictured was David Gough, School Principal - Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál with pupils from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál – Inchicore with Lucas Ngola (age 11), twins Ella and Noah Smith (age 8) and Molly Stears (age 9). Picture Conor McCabe Photography.

Meath Schools Encouraged to take part in SuperValu Christmas colouring competition

The much-loved Deermuid the Deer has made his return to Irish television screens this week as SuperValu re-launch their Christmas advert.

The iconic ad captures the true magic of Christmas with little Aoife and her friends helping Deermuid travel back to his home with Santa in the North Pole.

To celebrate the re-release of the advert and the return of Deermuid the Deer to Irish screens, SuperValu has launched a magical Christmas colouring competition for primary school children. The nationwide competition is giving children across the country a chance to get creative and capture their idea of Deermuid through an illustration created by Irish artist, illustrator, and author Aoife Dooley.

Children across the nation can pick up the Aoife Dooley illustrated Share the Magic colouring sheet from any SuperValu store nationwide. The illustration will also be available to download from the SuperValu website. Completed entries must be emailed to deermuidthedeer@supervalu.ie at midnight on Thursday December 1st, and each of the category winners will receive a €500 SuperValu gift card and a visit from SuperValu’s much loved Deermuid the Deer to their primary school ahead of the Christmas break.

School principal and All-Ireland final referee David Gough from Slane welcomed Deermuid to his school in Inchicore to launch the SuperValu ‘Share the Magic’ colouring competition. Speaking about the competition David said:

“This is a lovely competition for kids to get back to basics and use their imagination to colour this beautiful illustration by Aoife Dooley. In this busy environment the more we can do to create moments of tranquility for children to just switch off are so important and something as simple as a colouring sheet can give them an opportunity to use their creativity and immerse themselves in their own little world for a while.”

Speaking about the re-launch of SuperValu’s Share the Magic Christmas Advert, Shane Lynch, SuperValu Marketing Manager said: “We’re delighted to re-release our Share the Magic advert this Christmas. The advert encapsulates the magic of belief at Christmas which captured the attention of the nation last year as people connected with finding magical moments across the festive season. Christmas is truly the most magical time of year, especially for kids. We were thrilled to team up with Irish illustrator, Aoife Dooley to create the illustration of Deermuid. Aoife continues to capture the minds of children with her drawings and books, and we’re excited to see the bright, colourful and imaginative pieces from children around Ireland. Christmas is all about sharing moments and we hope this competition inspires them to create something magical to them.”

Deermuid The Deer lives in Co. Wicklow with his handler Eddie Drew and is excited to announce he has a new sister! Speaking about the new arrival Eddie said: “Deermuid is really social and earlier this year, he got a new sister, Deerdra who is strong willed but sweet. Deermuid loves her company and looks out for her like any big bother. She was bottle fed at the beginning but now like Deermuid, she loves carrots and homemade brown bread.”

For more information and to download the SuperValu Share the Magic Christmas colouring competition entry form, see www.supervalu.ie.