National identity is a rather narrow remit, but it is worth asking what gets refracted when national celebration is illuminated by artistic competition. Aligning awards with official enthusiasms might bring publicity, fresh eyes, ears and hearts to artworks. It perhaps also provides a context in which people might reflect upon the works. It certainly invites conm1entary because works are measured against the expectation that they speak to, about, or on behalf of a nation. When the winners of the Arts Council of Ireland's call to 'invigorate the Irish imagination were announced, and nine entries from among :258 applications were each offered a portion of the 1m allocated, the editor of the Irish Arts ReiJinu, for example, belittled one of the winners by comparison with WB. Yeats' great poem of commemoration, Easter 1916.