Christmas card competition for school children – Bishop David announces winners

The Bishop of Barking, Rt Reverend David Hawkins, has presented the winning artists of his ‘Design the Bishop’s Christmas Card’ competition with their prizes. The artistic task set by Bishop David was to interpret the theme of ‘Why Christmas is special to me’ and design the card that he would use to send to his own friends and colleagues this Christmas.

There were two age categories in the competition, Key Stage One (for children aged between 4 and 7) and Key Stage Two, (for children aged between 7 and 11).  Anna Sugumar, aged four, of St Margaret’s Primary School, Barking, was overall winner of Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Naomi Rimmer, aged 10, of Wanstead Church School, took first prize in the Key Stage 2 (KS2) category.  The KS1 runner up Matthew Burtrand of Harold Wood Primary School and the KS2 runner up was Sophie Rawson of Theydon Bois Primary School.

Bishop David and Carole, his wife, attended the school assembly at Wanstead Church School on 11 December and presented Naomi with her prize of a book token, some art materials and a pack of 50 of her own card designs, professionally printed, to send to her family and friends. The prize giving took place in at the morning assembly and a delighted Naomi was clearly thrilled with her success.  Mr Lewis, head teacher, said, “This is a great competition; it really encourages children to put their creativity to work!  We, at Wanstead Church School, are delighted for Naomi. To win the first prize is a magnificent achievement.  We are also thrilled for the other children in our school that received commendations.  We are proud of them all!”

Bishop David also visited St Margaret’s Primary School, Barking, where he watched the nursery’s Nativity Play before presenting a surprised Anna with her certificate and prizes.  Like Naomi, Anna received a book token, some art materials and a pack of 50 of her own card designs.

The competition had clearly grabbed the attention of many teachers and pupils across the area and hundreds of entries poured into the Bishop’s office.  A judging panel, made up of Bishop David, his wife Carole, Cllr Joy Laguda, of The London Borough of Newham and Brenda English, who runs children’s art workshops throughout east London, spent several hours pondering the difficult task of sifting through more than 750 entries in their quest to find the winners.

Bishop David, a keen artist himself, said, “We looked for designs that not only illustrated the special nature of Christmas, but also demonstrated originality, self-expression and artistic talent. It was great to see an abundance of all three and we judges were faced with some difficult choices as we whittled the entries down…however, we were unanimous in our final decisions.”

Brenda English added, “We were all impressed by the number of high quality entrants and were particular impressed with the KS1 entries, which showed a huge amount of imagination and enthusiasm. The children expressed the theme very freely and creatively and the results were delightful.”

Bishop David concludes “I am so pleased that we organised this competition, I am delighted with my 2007 Christmas cards and fully intend to run the competition again next year.”