CHILDREN from across the Forest of Dean have been celebrated after being named the winner and runners up in Matt Bishop MP’s annual Christmas Card Competition.

The overall winner this year is Willoughby from Huntley Church of England Primary School. Runners up were Rhys from Heart of the Forest Community Special School and Ronnie from Coalway Junior School.

Mr Bishop praised the standard of entries, saying the winning designs were “creative, colourful and full of Christmas spirit”.

He confirmed the artwork will be used on his official Christmas cards, which are sent to residents, organisations and colleagues across the Forest of Dean, the wider country and in Parliament.

He said: “Congratulations to our fantastic winner and runners up. Their designs are wonderful and it was a real pleasure to present the prizes and see just how excited they were to be included.”

The competition, which has become a popular festive tradition, attracted entries from schools across the district. Mr Bishop said selecting a winner had not been easy due to the volume and quality of submissions.

He added: “Thank you to all the schools and children that took part this year. It was brilliant to see the array of creative talent from pupils right across the Forest of Dean.”

The MP also paid tribute to this year’s sponsors, Puzzlewood and Suntory, for supporting the competition and helping to ensure the children’s designs are shared far and wide.

Mr Bishop said: “A big thank you to our sponsors for their support in enabling these fantastic designs to be seen near and far.”

He finished by wishing pupils and school staff a festive end to term, saying he hoped the final week of school would be “full of festive fun and excitement” for children across the Forest of Dean.