TALENTED school pupils have been named as finalists of a Royal Mail stamp design competition to celebrate heroes of the pandemic.
Stella Scollay, 11, of Jordanhill School; Jessica Zhu, 14, of Kelvinside Academy; Edhita Sharma, 10, of Golfhill Primary School and Georgia McLaughlin, 6, of St Vincent's Primary School were all part of the 120 regional finalists who will each receive £100 in gift vouchers and £100 for their school.
They will go forward to the next stage of the competition with a chance that their design will appear on a stamp next year.
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The announcement comes as Royal Mail secured a Guinness World Records title for its heroes of the pandemic stamp design competition which received an incredible 606,049 entries. An astonishing 7,479 schools submitted entries. The previous highest number of entries received for a stamp design competition was 239,374, achieved for Royal Mail’s Christmas stamp design competition held in 2013.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “It is of great credit to the children of this country that in world record-breaking numbers they picked up their paintbrushes, pens and paints and paid artistic tribute to the heroes of our coronavirus response.
"Their brilliant efforts represent the collective gratitude of the nation to everyone who went above and beyond during the pandemic.
“Congratulations to all those who have made it to the next round and thank you to everyone who has taken part and to the teams at Royal Mail for managing this record number of entries.”
Simon Thompson, Royal Mail CEO, added: "We would like to thank all of the 606,049 children who submitted such brilliant designs to the competition.
"We have been amazed and impressed by the sheer volume of entries. And to have achieved a Guinness World Records title in the process shows how much the UK’s children value those heroes who have kept the nation moving during such a difficult period.
"To the 120 regional finalists - Well Done! We are really looking forward to seeing the winning eight designs!”
To arrive at the 120 regional finalists, a network of judges, consisting of current and retired art teachers, evaluated each of the 606,049 entries. Over a three-month period, the best entries from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England were chosen from each age group.
From the 120 regional finalists, a special panel of judges will now determine the winning 24 regional designs in November.
From these 24 entries, eight winning images will be chosen as official Royal Mail stamps.
They will then appear on millions of items of mail across the UK when they are issued in the Spring of 2022.
The competition was open to UK schoolchildren to mark the important role played by key and frontline workers, as well as others, during the pandemic.
Children, aged four to 14, were given the chance to design an official Royal Mail stamp as part of a special set of eight.
Children were asked to think about who their hero or heroes were and to design a stamp in their honour.
The designs received celebrate a wide range of heroes including NHS workers, mums, dads, carers, refuse collectors, cleaning staff, teachers, supermarket workers, public transport staff, delivery drivers and postmen and postwomen.
Also depicted on the designs were many volunteers who have helped in their local communities or raised money for charity such as Captain Sir Tom Moore.
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