Pop star Ed Sheeran has chosen a video made by a Donegal school as the music video for his track Magical.
The singer launched a competition several months back, asking schools to create a music video for a song of their choice from his latest album, Autumn Variations.
14 school entries were chosen as winners, including that of transition year students from Finn Valley College, Stranorlar, Co. Donegal, who created and starred in a video for Magical.
Sheeran officially released the Donegal school's video today, which is described as "a school love story with a Romeo and Juliet twist."
The school was chosen as one of the winners from over 4,000 entries, created in over 75 countries.
Edel Temple, a teacher at Finn Valley who submitted the entry, spoke of how the video came about.
"A few months ago, I saw an amazing opportunity on Ed Sheeran’s Instagram page to create a music video. Myself and my son are huge Ed fans and my son constantly puts on concerts singing Ed Sheeran songs with his guitar," she said.
Referencing the song title, she continued, "In Finn Valley College, I am lucky to bear witness to the most magical students; this is what I thought of when I saw the post. This was our moment to show off their magic as it would be a chance in a million for our students - so I sent in an application to take part."
"I asked my colleague Tina Garry for help. She, with the brilliant brains of our transition year students, wrote the pitch for the competition, devising the concept, planning the shot types and compiling a list of props to complement the narrative and music."
Explaining the concept behind the video, she said, "The Romeo and Juliet theme, where an unrequited teenage crush was harboured by two friends, was something our pupils were keen to explore.
"A love for drama and literature in a school setting was popular as we knew love and school were things that could be related to by so many people."
Saying how proud she and the school staff are of its pupils "every single day", she said, "I hope the magic of Finn Valley College is clear to the world and we are forever grateful to Ed and his team for making young dreams come true and for giving our pupils the chance to take part in something so exciting."
The winning entries come from Ireland, the UK, Australia, Italy, The Netherlands, the US, Brazil, Germany, Japan, France, New Zealand, Taiwan, Mexico and India.
Sheeran’s endeavour continues his vision of Autumn Variations as an album for the fans and by the fans, as he spotlights their artistry.
He said, "I made Autumn Variations for the fans and I really wanted to bring them into the fold on this album. I was keen to see how they interpreted the music, so I decided to ask my fans from across the world to make videos for each album track.
"There were so many wonderful submission.... I want to give special thanks to each and every fan who made these videos so special. I love them and hope you will too."
Released in September, Autumn Variations topped Billboard’s top albums sales chart, following the number one debut of "-" ("Subtract") on the same chart earlier this year.
