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Once again, we invited the artists of Aspire to take part in our annual Christmas Card Competition, and it was a creative flurry across the city. We received over 100 entries of many different mediums and art styles from all corners of Leeds; there were paintings, colourings, cartoons and even 3d sculptures!
Needless to say, with so many diverse entries to choose from, judging was going to be a tough task. We assembled a panel of judges including including Zoe Bawn (Chief Exec), Potternewton Fulfilling Lives attendees, Potternewton staff, our CICs team and our Communications Team. We carefully considered every single entry we received, eventually selecting our 9 winners.
As the festive season began, we couldn’t wait to gather to celebrate our talented artists and unveil our official 2024 Christmas Card. We held a presentation event at Hillside. Zoe, joined by surprise guest Ronnie the Rhino, presented each of our winners with their prizes and showcased their stunning artwork. We then revealed our overall winning design by Mandy, featuring a beautiful angel sat atop a tall and colourful tree. This design is featured on our official Christmas Card, which is sent to our colleagues and stakeholders across the city.
This was the perfect opportunity to also reveal the winning design of our Equality & Diversity Art Workshop. In November, we spent a day with some of Aspire’s most enthusiastic artists trying to gain an understanding of the complicated ideas of “equality”, “diversity” and “inclusion” and showcase these through art. The cover of our 2025 Equality & Diversity Calendar features Claire’s winning artwork from the day; featuring colourful puzzle pieces, with a call to “fix our problems together”. We think this sentiment captured the themes perfectly, as even though we are different, our different pieces fit together to make a whole picture.
We then enjoyed cakes, conversation and Christmas music as we celebrated our incredible artists.
A huge well done to our winners:
East Hubs
East 3rd- Neil
East 2nd- John
East 1st- Roy
South Hubs
South 3rd- Chris
South 2nd- Edgar
South 1st- Alex
West Hubs
West 3rd- John
West 2nd- Tracey
West 1st and Overall Winner- Mandy
2025 Calendar Winner:
Calendar Winner- Claire
Well done to our winners and a huge thank you to all who entered and supported someone to enter our competition. We would also like to extend our thanks to Leeds Rhinos Foundation for helping Ronnie join us at the event, to our judges for helping with the toughest job of all and to our event organisers for providing festive cheer.
We’re already excited to see what creative designs you come up with next year!
