The Big Issue calls on children to get creative for its Christmas Kids Cover Competition

The Big Issue is today (25th October) calling on young people aged 13 and under to send in their drawings for the annual Christmas Kids Cover Competition. The winning design will feature on the front of hundreds of thousands of magazines sold across Britain.

Since the first competition in 2013, The Big Issue has seen thousands of entries from young readers.

The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Christmas Wishes’ and designs can take any form, from drawings to paintings to digital art.

The entries will be judged by the Editor of The Big Issue, Paul McNamee, as well as two guest judges Nick Sheridan and Sarah McInyre. Nick is a Journalist and Broadcaster whose new book called Breaking News is out on 23^rd December. Sarah is an acclaimed children’s Author and Illustrator best known for her books including Grumpycorn and Dinosaur Firefighters.

Paul McNamee, Editor of The Big Issue, said: “I ho, ho, ho, hope kids will blow us away with their amazing artwork! All of our vendors look forward to selling a magazine with the winning kids cover. The only problem is how hard it’ll be to pick the winner!”

Sarah McIntyre, Author and Illustrator, said: “I can’t wait to see what children come up with for bright, bold Big Issue covers! I’m thrilled to be judging, it’s going to be amazing… I hope lots of young artists enter their pictures into this year’s Christmas Kids Cover competition.”

Nick Sheridan, Journalist and Author, added: “I’m utterly thrilled to be one of the judges of the competition! As long as the kids are having fun making the cover, we’re going to have fun judging it. Let your imagination run wild!”

Entrants need to make sure to include THE BIG ISSUE on the cover and send entries in by 22^nd November.

Entrants can post entries to Christmas Kids Cover Competition, The Big Issue, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW or email high-resolution pictures to: editorial@bigissue.com –with a name, age, address and telephone or email contact on all entries.

The Big Issue can’t return artwork but will print as many pictures as possible onto the page. All entries will also feature in an online gallery.

The Big Issue recently celebrated its 30^th Birthday, in that time the organisation has helped over 105,000 vendors earn over £144 million.

Please go out and buy a copy from your local vendor, subscribe online or donate to our bigissue.com/big30 campaign.