A TEENAGER who has expressed her feelings about the recent London terrorist attack has been hailed the best of the month in the John Byrne awards.

Coral Aston, 17, from Fife was voted the highlight of April for her painting titled A Window to the Soul.

Coral, who attends Madras College in St Andrews, depicted a pair of eyes painting on glass for her submission.

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Her work followed the attacks on Westminster Bridge and at the Houses of Parliament, when Khalid Masood drive a car at pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead on March 22.

She said that the eyes represented the "individuality of humans and stops any assumptions" while the glass represented the "fragility of life".

"Society views the way people look and categorises them into stereotypes, however if you are just looking at someone's eyes you cannot make any judgments," she said.

The John Byrne award encourages young Scots to explore and express their own personal values is opening its doors to older contributors.

It offers a showcase to creative young people aged 16-26 working in a range of media from painting, illustration and writing to video, audio and music.

Each month a highlight is chosen by the judging team for the entry which has the most potential to encourage others to consider their values and given a a £100 cash prize.

It also awards a number of £500 annual prizes and a £1,000 overall prize for the best pieces of work that year.

For the monthly works, the young people are required to submit a 200-word explanation of why their work expresses their values.

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In her submission, Coral said: "During the Westminster attack, an Islamic man killed six people and injured a further 49.

"In the aftermath, there was an incident involving a Muslim woman on her phone walking past people trying to help a victim.

"Photographs were posted on social media, she was clearly distraught at what she saw, but xenophobes made her look uncaring.

"Many people were leaving the area as she was, however, because of what she was wearing, she was discriminated against.

"She later stated that she was phoning to get help. Another outcome was a group of Muslims raising money to help victims of the attack.

"These events surrounding the attack highlights the individualism of human beings.

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"These people were of the same religion but only one was intending to hurt people.

"It is wrong to assume every religious person is trying to hurt us."