The University's Venn building is a winner for Alana

An impressive drawing of the Venn building at the University of Hull was the winning entry for a Christmas card competition organised for local schools.

In partnership with Hull & East Yorkshire Children’s University, Professor Susan Lea, Vice-Chancellor of the University, invited more than 500 children from seven local primary schools to design a special Christmas card for her.

Professor Lea said:

“We treasure our links with local schools and received a wonderful response to the competition. The designs confirmed that we have a lot of talented children in the region.  It was an absolute pleasure to see the creativity and concentration that had gone into each child’s drawing.

“The winning design showed great attention to detail and really created the atmosphere of our Venn building on a frosty Winter’s night.

“I warmly congratulate our winner, Alana, but also want to express my thanks to all the pupils and teachers who gave their time and support to this competition. I have been touched by all the wonderful contributions.”

Alana Stuart, a year six pupil at Newland St John's Church of England Academy, was one of 150 pupils at her school to enter the competition.

Alana, aged 10, said:

“I really enjoyed coming up to the University to sketch some of the buildings. I chose the Venn building for my design because it is such an interesting older building. I feel proud and surprised to have won the competition, because I've never won anything before and I feel like a VIP!”

Natasha Barley, Director at Hull & East Yorkshire Children’s University, said:

“We were thrilled when the Vice Chancellor of the University asked us to run a Christmas card competition to find a suitable design for her cards this year.

“We received over 500 designs so selecting a winner was a difficult task. The designs from Newland St. John’s school really stood out. They had taken the time to come on campus to study the buildings and do some in situ sketching. The result was amazing with the sketches being of an extremely high quality and very accurate.

“Our charity, Hull & East Yorkshire Children’s University, inspires children to find their talents and pursue a career in them. I have no doubt that Alana will be doing something creative in the future.”

Alana will be presented with her prize at the University’s annual carol service on Sunday.

Sarah Wilson, Headteacher at Newland St John's Church of England Academy, said:
“We value our links with both the University of Hull and the Children's University highly, and very much enjoyed taking part in this project.

“It gave a fantastic context for the children to apply their developing art skills as well as giving them a glimpse of the university and something for them to work towards in the future. We are immensely proud of Alana and the work she produced!”