Bishop David launches his Christmas card competition for primary school children
On Wednesday 12 September The Bishop of Barking, The Right Reverend David Hawkins, launched his Christmas card design competition at St Margaret’s Church of England School in Barking.
Bishop David is inviting the thousands of children attending primary school in the Barking Episcopal Area, (that is the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, and the Essex local authorities of Epping Forest, Harlow and Ongar) to design a Christmas card for him. The winning designs will be professionally printed and both will be used as the Bishop’s official Christmas cards this December. Prize winning children will also receive a pack of 50 of their card designs to send to their own family and friends.
There are two categories in the competition, one each for Key Stages One and Two, and, for both age groups the theme of the competition is ‘Why Christmas is special to me.’ Children are asked to interpret the theme freely and design a Christmas card, no bigger than A5 size, using paints, crayons, pencils, felt tips or pastels. Bishop David is hoping that the competition will really catch the imagination of the area’s children and is expecting to see an explosion of creativity and originality in the entries received.
Bishop David comments, “I’m really looking forward to seeing hundreds of designs pour into my office from the young artists in this part of East London and Essex. We’re looking for designs that not only clearly show the special nature of Christmas, but also demonstrate the young artists’ originality, self-expression and artistic talent. I know that there is a huge amount of talent amongst the school children of this area and I am expecting that I and the other judges will be to be faced with many difficult choices when we have to choose the winners!”
Many of the area’s schools have already reacted very positively to the competition, and are expecting many of their children to enter. Mrs Ejvet, Headteacher of St Margaret’s primary school, concludes, “ Christmas is a very important time of year in the school and we work very hard to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas. Designing a card for the Bishop’s Competition will help the children really focus on the Christmas story.”
The closing date is Friday 9 November, the judging will take place the following week and the prize winners will be notified shortly afterwards.
Any primary school in the area wanting further information should contact Gill Nichol, Bishop David’s Communications Adviser, on 020 7249 3486 for an information pack.
