The winners of a competition for youngsters to design the Mayor of Wolverhampton's official Christmas card have been announced. Four-year-old Eliza Hallam, a pupil at St Anthony's RC School, was declared the winner with her colourful, hand-printed Father Christmas stating "I'm going to my favourite place next... Wolverhampton". She won a pack of 20 cards featuring her own design, along with a family ticket for a ride on the Severn Valley Railway.
Second place went to Ruby Huntbatch, age 10 and coincidentally also a pupil at St Anthony's, whose colourful "Christmas in Wolverhampton" message featured local landmarks including the Grand Theatre. She received a pack of 10 cards of her design and a book voucher.
Also highly recommended were designs by Viktor Severdor, age 11, Bethany Wesley, 13, Louis Johnson, nine and Ayrton Hughes, six, all of whom received a pack of 10 cards of their design.
Mayor Councillor Ian Brookfield said: "In recent years, the Mayor's Christmas card has featured either a photograph of Wolverhampton or a picture from one of the collections at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, so for a bit of a change I thought it would be nice to showcase the fantastic talents of our young people by giving them the chance to design some very special Christmas cards of their own.
"I was delighted by the quality of the entries – and the incredible talent being displayed by our young people.
“I’d like to thank everyone who entered, and congratulate the winners. Thanks to their efforts the official cards that I will be sending out in the coming days will really brighten up mantelpieces right across our city.”