Lemur pic scoops top award for Roisin (9)

A nine-year-old Clonard girl has won a prestigious photography competition run by a top international magazine with a picture of a lemur taken at Belfast Zoo. Roisin Hickey from Anneville is a daughter of Mary and Richard Hickey. She won the animal category of the National Geographic Kids Photography Competition with her photo 'I"m a lemur…get me out of here!" and scooped an Olympus digital camera as a result. Roisin"s photo was chosen by the judges from over 2000 entries. The competition was open to children aged 16 and under with three categories: portraits, scenery and animals. Celebrity judge and 'X Factor" winner, Leon Jackson, said his favourite kind of photo tells a story and has character. 'This shot has both and is really striking,' he said. Roisin"s mum, Mary, said Roisin was very excited at her win. 'She took the picture when we were on a short break to Belfast and visited Belfast Zoo,' she said. Roisin has always been interested in animals and wanted to visit Belfast Zoo, because she had often been to the zoo in Dublin. Shortly before the trip, she saw the competition in the magazine and decided to take a picture at Belfast Zoo. 'She spent a lot of time looking for her picture and took a lot of photographs that day,' her mother said. Launched in 1975, National Geographic Kids is the longest-running multi-topic children"s magazine and international editions are available in 14 countries around the world, including the US, Germany, South Africa, Russia and Turkey. National Geographic magazine is the official journal of the National Geographic Society, one of the world"s largest non-profit educational and scientific organizations. Published in English and 29 local-language editions, the magazine has a total circulation of around nine million, which spans every country around the globe.