Safety first in annual calendar competition

 

Zoe Ward, a Primary 7 pupil at Mosshead Primary School, received an early Christmas present this week when she was announced as the winner of East Dunbartonshire Council’s annual Road Safety Calendar Competition.

With an amazing 4,241 entries from 27 different schools across the area, competition was stiff but Zoe’s excellent message and design to encourage people to stay safe when cycling by wearing safety helmets caught the imagination of the judges. The slogan “Helmets keep you safe. Do you wear yours?” was accompanied by a colourful image of school pupils on bikes wearing safety helmets and high-vis jackets.

Zoe’s design was on the ‘Cycling Safely’ and it will now feature on thousands of calendars that will be distributed across East Dunbartonshire to remind people of the very important road safety message.

To commend her winning entry, Zoe and a number of other pupils whose drawings were chosen as the best in their age range were presented with their prizes at a special event at Kilmardinny House in Bearsden.

Convener of Place, Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets, Councillor Jim Gibbons, who met Zoe and the other winners at the prize-giving, said, “Our annual calendar competition helps children focus on what is a very important subject and at the same time raises their awareness of staying safe.

“Amazingly,  the  competition  is  now  in  its  twentieth  year  and  still  going  strong.  We received over 4,200 entries this year and this made choosing a winner an extremely difficult task.

“We have some wonderfully creative and talented young people in our schools and I was amazed at the standard. However, Zoe’s design just had that extra eye-catching appeal that ensured it was well deserving of this year’s award. I’d like to congratulate her and all the others winners this year; they did a brilliant job.

“The new calendar looks fantastic and I hope that everyone that sees it can enjoy it and remember the important message that Zoe has captured so beautifully in her design.

“I would like to thank every pupil in each school who took part in this year’s Calendar Competition and also to all the teachers who work with the children to produce their entries.”

Zoe received £70 and a trophy that will go on display at her school. Prize winners in each category received cash prizes, a certificate and a pencil set. First place winners received £25, second place £20 and third place £15.

Other themes in the competition and first place winners are detailed below:

Winners

Category	Theme	Winner’s Name	Winner’s School
Primary 1	Holding Hands	Luke MacLean	Baldernock Primary
Primary 2	Stop, think, look and listen	Lachlan Timar	HSOG Junior School
Primary 3	Safer places to cross the road	Elizabeth Gregory	Holy Family
Primary 4	Seatbelts and car seats	Christian Albana	Lairdsland Primary
Primary 5	Be safe be seen	Ethan Cooper	Mosshead Primary
Primary 6	Selfish parking in school zones	Zainab Imran	Westerton Primary
Primary 7	Cycling safely	Zoe Ward (overall winner)	Mosshead Primary

 

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