Two Midlothian pupils win local MSPs Christmas card competitions

Two Midlothian primary school pupils recently had their designs chosen for two local MSPs’ Christmas cards for this year’s festive period.

Eva Redmond, winner of Colin Beattie MSP's Christmas card contest 2021.

Colin Beattie, SNP MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, has held his fifth annual Christmas Card Competition for all primary school children within his constituency. This year the theme was ‘Together with Family’.

The top prizes this year were a £60 book voucher for the Individual Category and a £100 book voucher for the Best Class Overall Category.

There were a high volume of entries this year from primary schools in Midlothian and East Lothian which made choosing the winning entries a tough decision for Mr Beattie and his fellow judges, Stephen Thomson from JK Thomson in Musselburgh and Trish Sime from Bonnyrigg Rose FC.

Laila Houston, aged 7, from Stobhill Primary School, pictured with Mr Hoy, who is holding her winning card.

This year’s winner was Eva Redmond, a P7 pupil from Lasswade Primary School. In second place was Millie Cairns from Wallyford Primary School, while Yvie Burnett from Kings Park Primary was third. For the overall class prize, Paradykes P4/5 came second to P5M from Woodburn Primary School.

Mr Beattie said: “The Christmas Card competition is always the highlight of the festive season for me. The skill and talent of the designs get better and better every year, it really makes choosing the winner a difficult job.

“I would like to thank all the schools for their entries this year and all the children who worked so hard on their designs. A special congratulations to the winner Eva – I am sure all those who receive my Christmas Card will love your design.”

Meanwhile, a pupil from Stobhill Primary School in Gorebridge has won a Christmas card design competition for school aged children from the South of Scotland.

Laila Houston (7) from Stobhill Primary School won first place in the contest. The runner-up was Jude Davie ( 4) from St Andrew’s RC Nursery, also in Gorebridge.

The competition was organised by Conservative List MSP for South Scotland, Craig Hoy. It asked young people across the South of Scotland to design a Christmas card using their art skills.

Mr Hoy wrote to schools across the South of Scotland, and encouraged others to take part too, such as those who are home schooled or schooled outside of the area.

Laila’s winning design will be on the front of Mr Hoy’s Christmas card sent out to around 4000 households.

Due to the generosity of local businesses, there will also be prizes for the runners-up from other schools.

Mr Hoy said: “It was a pleasure to judge my first Christmas Card competition in Holyrood recently .

“There was a lot of imaginative artwork from talented pupils across Midlothian and the South of Scotland.

“I am very excited to announce Laila as the winner of the contest and Jude as the runner-up, and I would like to wish both of them and their schools all the very best for the Christmas period, and thank everyone who participated in the contest.”

Mrs Maggie Sikes, the head of Stobhill Primary School, said: “ I am very proud of Laila and the Primary 3 class for their hard work. Laila’s card made me smile! She is certainly a successful individual. The competition is a great way to show art skills in a real life context. Thank you Craig.”