Eleanor Margey’s caricature ‘Magnifying Glasses’ has been shortlisted for this year’s Zurich Young Portrait Prize.

She is one of 20 artists aged between five and 18, whittled down from hundreds of entries, to make it through to the final stage of the competition.

The daughter of Edel Margey and Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce President Michael, Eleanor is going into sixth class at Gaelscoil Adhamháin.

Her piece, created using drawing pencils and white pen on paper, is a portrait of herself pulling a face, something the happy-go-lucky 11-year-old does to amuse her friends.

“Sometimes I like making these sort of faces for my friends to make them laugh. So I decided to draw myself acting silly,” said the young artist.

An exhibition of shortlisted works runs at the National Gallery between November 13 and April 3. The collection will then travel to Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, where it will be displayed between April 23 and July 17.

Mum Edel said Eleanor’s fun-poking drawing captured perfectly who she is.

“It sums her up really. We were saying how portraits are always so serious and Eleanor came up with this herself.”

The schoolgirl’s artistic prowess began to shine through as a toddler sitting on the knee of her grandparents.

“She has been doodling since she was old enough to hold a crayon. She took to it when she was very young and she loves it.”

The winners of the Zurich Young Portrait Prize receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize. But according to mum Edel, getting down to the final few and having her work displayed in the National Gallery is reward enough.

“It’s an honour. To have her work on display in the National Gallery of Ireland is just fantastic. The fact that people have appreciated her work, that is a prize in itself.

“The competition is great because it has given young people something to focus on during lockdown and something to work towards.

“We are delighted for her and for her grandparents who helped her from an early age.”

The Margey family will travel to Dublin on August 31 to hand in the artwork in person.

“We’ll make a day of it and it will be lovely to get to the gallery and see it all,” added Edel.