Uckfield boy designs winning Christmas card

Christmas cards designed by a seven-year-old Uckfield boy have been sent across the country to clients of a company specialising in financial and lifestyle planning.

Ethan Lewis who attends Harlands Primary School and lives in Framfield Road learned on Friday that his card was chosen from 336 entries as the winner of a competition run by Private Wealth Management.

The prize was £150 for his school, a £25 Argos voucher for himself and, along with each of the other finalists, he was presented a Crayola Mosaic Madness Art Set.

Managing director of Private Wealth Management Mark Robinson was delighted with the quality of entries.

He said choosing the winner proved very difficult and there were many other designs that he was sure his clients would have enjoyed seeing on their cards.

Reason to smile

He added: “Every day of the competition we had a reason to smile as the entries arrived. They were all brilliant. We were very impressed.

“At one point we didn’t know how we were going to be able to choose a winner. We encouraged people to vote for their favourites – 1,356 gave us their views - and we brought in an independent judge to help too. Ethan is a very worthy winner.”

All the entries were displayed at a prize-giving ceremony held at the Foresters Hall in Harcourt Road, Uckfield, on Friday, with children and families from the six primary schools involved in the competition invited along to view them.

Harlands headteacher Mrs Louisa Michie was there to accept the £150 cheque on behalf of her school. She said Ethan would be asked how he would like to see the money spent.

Art materials

Ethan, who is a member of his school’s art club said he thought it would be nice if the money could be spent on more art materials.

The other nine finalists were Daisy Efford, Harlands; Kiara Dunn, Manor Primary; Elliott Foster, Rocks Park; Poppy Chesson, Harlands; Ben Wickens, Manor Primary; Andrew Stears, Rocks Park; Amy Swain, Little Horsted; Hannah Rofe, Broad Oak Primary and Ted Whiting, Manor Primary.

Mr Robinson said his company, which is based in Uckfield, would definitely be running a similar competition next year. He added: “Many thanks to all the schools and children who took part in 2011.”

Ethan is pictured with his winning design while Mr Robinson presents a cheque to Harlands headteacher Mrs Michie.

The other photographs show Ethan with some of the other prize-winning competition finalists and some of the visitors to the exhibition.

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