Local MP David Mundell was delighted by the response in his quest to find a winning design for his Christmas cards this year. The annual competition attracted over 600 entries from Primary Five pupils in 26 schools across the constituency, including 16 from Dumfriesshire, six from Clydesdale and three from Tweeddale.
The entries were judged this year by players from Annan Athletic FC, who were set the hard task of picking a winner and four runners-up. They commented that they found it more stressful than playing on a Saturday! The overall winner of the competition was Mia Graham from Lochmaben Primary, who won the grand prize of a new bike. The runners-up were:
Finlay Bainbridge (Wallace Hall Primary, Thornhill)
Aidan McLeod (Priorsford Primary, Peebles)
Lucy Ash (Langholm Primary)
Nicola Paul (Lamington Primary, Clydesdale)
As well as a certificate, each of the runners-up also received a £20 gift card for the Amazon website, which were kindly provided by Scottish Power.
Commenting on the standard of entries received from throughout the region this year, Mr Mundell said: "I was once again very impressed by the effort put in by all the children who entered my competition this year. Everyone of them deserves a prize! I would have had a tough job picking a winner and I'm glad I didn't have to. Congratulations to the winners and well done to everyone who entered."