The Mayor of London’s Christmas Card Competition

To join the competition, your school should:

1. Nominate a school lead 
   1. They will champion the competition in school, plan how pupils take part and be responsible for submitting entries on time.
2. Encourage pupils to take part 
   1. You could announce the competition in a school assembly, and make it a homework or school holiday/half-term activity. If pupils are self-isolating, this can be set as a homework activity and their design can be uploaded to the website from home by parents or guardians.
3. Submit your entries 
   1. As of 7 November 2023 at 12pm, the entry deadline has been extended, and we are now accepting applications until Friday, 10 November 2023, at 23:59. All entries should be submitted online using our entry form. 

Format

All designs:

• Should be created on white A4 paper
• Preferably landscape
• Must be in colour – coloured pencils, paint, crayons, and felt tips can all be used. However, pupils should not stick additional material (like tinsel, glitter, or sequins) onto the entry
• Should be an image only and not have any text
• Must be uploaded as a JPEG or PNG
• File size should be 20MB max
• You can scan or take a clear photo of the design

This year, we're inviting pupils to design a card on the theme, 'Together at Christmas’. We want your pupils to show scenes that highlight the sense of belonging, support and shared joy that define a welcoming community.

By entering our competition, your pupil stands the chance to feature on the Mayor’s 2023 Christmas card - sent to dignitaries across the world, including our sovereign, His Majesty King Charles III.

When submitting your pupil design, please complete the entry form on the competition webpage. 

We will then be able to let you know if one of your pupils' artworks has been chosen as the Mayor of London’s official Christmas card.

The winning design will be the Mayor’s official Christmas card. It will also feature the winner’s name, age, and school on the back of the card.

The competition is supported by Cass Art, the UK’s leading art supplies retailer. The winner will receive a certificate, copies of the card to send to their friends and family, have their Christmas card personally signed by the Mayor, and a £100 Cass Art gift voucher.

Also, two highly praised entries will each receive a certificate and a £30 Cass Art gift voucher.

Find out how Cass Art could support creativity in your school.

Please contact Junior Lagranha, Education and Youth team on [email protected].

We reserve the right to include the pupil's first name, age, and the name of the school alongside where images are used. No other information will be shared.

Please read the full terms and conditions below.

Entry to the competition is only open to children at school in Greater London aged between 4 and 14 – excluding children of members of staff who work for the Greater London Authority (GLA) or of its functional bodies.

• Entry to the competition must be made by a parent, guardian, teacher or play scheme leader on behalf of a child. Teachers and play scheme leaders must ensure that they have the necessary parent/guardian permission before making the entries.
• Entries must be submitted using our webform
• Entries must be submitted as JPEG or PNG and should be 20MB max.
• All entries should respond directly to the competition – to design a Christmas card based on the theme, ‘Together at Christmas’.
• Submitting an entry to the competition indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions. The GLA reserves the right to refuse entry or refuse to award the prize to anyone in breach of these terms and conditions.
• The competition opens for entries from 9:00 am on Monday 16 October 2023. The deadline for receiving entries is 23:59 on Friday 3 November 2023. Entries received after this time will not be considered.
• Parents, guardians, teachers, and play scheme leaders can submit as many entries as they wish, however, entries are limited to one per child.
• Original artwork designs should be on A4 white paper. Designs must be in colour – coloured pencils, paint, crayons, and felt tips could all be used. However, children must not stick additional material (like tinsel, glitter, or sequins) onto the entry.
• Entries will be judged on their artistic merit (taking into consideration their age) and creative responses to the requirement to design a Christmas card based on the theme of ‘Together at Christmas.’
• Judges will shortlist the entries before deciding on one winner and two highly commended entries.
• Entries will be anonymous for judging purposes.
• The judges’ decisions will be final and binding in all matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
• Winning entrants will be notified via their parent, guardian, teacher or play scheme leader using the contact information provided by no later than 13 November 2023. If the GLA is unable to contact any winner, or if any prize is not claimed within 2 days of being notified then the winner will be deemed to have forfeited their prize and the GLA reserves the right to determine a new winner for that prize.
• The first names, ages, and (where appropriate) schools of winners and the boroughs will be posted on the GLA website.
• The winner will be required to post the original artwork to the GLA Creative team by 15 November 2023.
• The winning design will be the Mayor’s official Christmas card. It will also feature the winner’s name, age, and school on the back of the Christmas card. The competition is supported by Cass Art, one of the UK’s leading art supplies retailers. The winner will receive a certificate, copies of the card to send to their friends and family, have their Christmas card personally signed by the Mayor, and a £100 Cass Art gift voucher. Also, two highly commended entries will each receive a certificate and a £30 Cass Art gift voucher. This may be subject to change. There will be no alternative to the prizes.
• The work of the winner will be photographed and used as the Mayor of London’s 2023 Christmas card. The shortlisted entries will be displayed on the Mayor of London’s online gallery along with the winning entry.
• Original works will be posted by the GLA to the winners or their parent, guardian, teacher or play scheme leader by 24 November, 2023.
• The GLA will not enter into any communication or correspondence regarding the winning entry.
• The GLA will not be liable for any loss or damage, however caused, to any entries, and bears no responsibility for incomplete or delayed entries.
• Personal data supplied during the course of this competition will only be processed as set out in the GLA Privacy Policy.
• The GLA reserves the right to cancel the competition at any stage if it considers such action necessary, or for reasons beyond the GLA's reasonable control, and the GLA will have no liability to the entrants in respect of any such cancellation.
• By entering the competition, each winning entrant grants the GLA, the competition sponsors, and all media partners an irrevocable, perpetual license to reproduce, enlarge, publish, or exhibit, mechanically or electronically on any media worldwide (including the internet) the entrant's winning artwork.
• Winning entrants shall not object to any cropping or other minor alteration of the photographs of their artwork when used outside the remit of this competition.
• By entering the competition, the parent/guardian/teacher/play scheme leader confirms and warrants that the entrant’s artwork that has been submitted:
• Is their own original work
  • That all copyright, and any other intellectual property rights in the artwork photograph are vested in the child and they have not assigned, licensed or disposed of, or otherwise encumbered any of their rights in the artwork;
  • Does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party in respect of the artwork, and the parent, guardian, or school as applicable will indemnify the GLA against any claims made against the GLA by any third parties in respect of such infringement; and by entering the competition the parent, guardian, teacher or play scheme leader confirms and warrants that they have the permission of those pictured in the artwork, (if any) (or, where the artwork pictures any persons under the age of 18, they have obtained the consent of that child's parent or guardian) for the photo to be published and used by the GLA as contemplated by these terms and conditions.
• The competition will be governed by English law and entrants to the competition submit to the jurisdiction of the English courts.