Advertisement
Christmas Special - Get your first 12 issues for just £12
SUBSCRIBE
Competitions

Big Issue's festive Christmas Kids Cover Competition is back for 2023

Sharpen your pencils and assemble your brushes – it's time to enter our annual Christmas cover art competition. This year's theme is 'WELCOME'

Previous winners of the kids cover competition

Previous winners of the Christmas Kids Cover Competition

Christmas Kids cover competition logo

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is a time for good food, presents and family get-togethers – but, better than that, it’s when we run our annual Christmas Kids Cover Competition!

Every year we’re astounded by the bundles of incredible artwork we receive from talented young artists across the land. And once again we’re asking creative kids to have a go at designing a Big Issue cover that will appear on the front of one of our Christmas magazines.

This year’s theme is WELCOME. Think about what that means to you and what it represents, during the festive period and beyond.

We’re on the lookout for bright, bold, eye-grabbing art that will catch the attention of passers-by and help our vendors sell lots of copies. Artwork can be drawn with pencils or pens, paints, creative collages or designed on a computer or tablet.

Remember to include ‘Big Issue’ as part of the picture so customers know what magazine they’re buying!

Big Issue editor Paul McNamee said: “Nothing brings us more joy than receiving entries to the Big Issue’s Christmas Kids Cover competition. And our vendors love it too. These fantastic designs help them – and all of our readers – have a merrier Christmas.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

To help with the impossible task of selecting a winner, we’re pleased to announce acclaimed artist and children’s book author Oliver Jeffers as a guest judge.

How to enter the Big Issue Christmas Kids Cover Competition

Anyone aged 13 or under can enter.

Send all entries with a name, age, address and telephone or email contact by 4 December. 

By post
Christmas Kids Cover Competition,
The Big Issue,
43 Bath Street,
Glasgow,
G2 1HW 

By email
editorial@bigissue.com and write KIDS COVER COMPETITION in the subject line. Make sure that
your image is high resolution.

We can’t return artworks, but will print as many pictures as we can squeeze onto the page. All entries will also feature in a spectacular online gallery!

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Big Issue's Changemakers of 2025: Nominate a group or person making the world a better place
Changemakers of 2025

Big Issue's Changemakers of 2025: Nominate a group or person making the world a better place

Illustrator Oliver Jeffers shares advice for Big Issue's Christmas Kids Cover Competition: 'We're all artists'
Previous winners of the kids cover competition
Christmas Kids Cover Competition

Illustrator Oliver Jeffers shares advice for Big Issue's Christmas Kids Cover Competition: 'We're all artists'

Big Issue's Changemakers of 2024: Nominate a group or person making the world a better place
The Big Issue Changemakers

Big Issue's Changemakers of 2024: Nominate a group or person making the world a better place

Win a collection of Nick Cave artwork!
Nick Cave and Kylie
competition

Win a collection of Nick Cave artwork!

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know