Artistic talent on show

Buy photos » Coun Emma Stokes presented the winners with their framed posters at Pershore Civic Centre. (s)

THREE artistic pupils from the Vale have been rewarded for their green thinking.

Schoolchildren from across Wychavon were challenged to come up with a poster to show how they would encourage people to be kinder to the environment.

The three first prize winners were Lauren Annis of Holy Redeemer Catholic Primary School in Pershore in the four to eight-year-old age category, Natalie Petrie-Hay of St Nicholas Middle School in Pinvin in the nine to 11 category and Lucy Dyer of Bowbrook House School in the 12 to 16 age group.

Another six pupils were runners up and highly commended and everyone received a framed copy of their winning poster, vouchers and a goody bag.

The schools of the three first prize winners were also given a cheque for £100 and all schools taking part in the competition received a voucher for £55 to use at Worcestershire Resource Exchange - a community project centre for reusing art materials that will help pupils create inspiring art in the future.

Denise Ditchburn, promotions and monitoring assistant at Wychavon District Council, said: "There was an amazing selection of posters.

"The children truly love their environment and want to encourage us to reduce the waste we send to landfill, as well as reduce energy and water waste.

"The competition is a great way to get young people thinking about important issues that affect the environment and stimulate debate."

The posters will be displayed in the Community Contact Centres in Evesham, Pershore and Droitwich and there will also be a display in Droitwich Library.