It's No Ordinary Christmas Card competition time

Are you already trying to figure out what to get for Christmas? How does having a Christmas card published which has been designed by your very own hands sound? A competition which starts today could mean the beginning of an artistic career for four people between the ages of six and 10. The challenge is to design a Christmas card from the imagination which fits the title of the competition, "No Ordinary Christmas Card".

The chosen four cards will be published by the Print Shop and then go on sale in Boots the Chemists around the State. The purpose of the competition is to raise funds for Temple Street Children's Hospital and help the children there have a happier Christmas. The money raised from the competition will specifically go towards the purchase of an MRI machine which will allow brain scans to be done at Temple Street. At the moment when children in Temple Street Hospital need this service they must be taken to Beaumont Hospital in north Dublin. But Donal Spring, chairman of the Temple Street Children's Hospital fund raising group, says it is important that Dublin has a hospital dedicated to children where they can get all the treatment they need. "Temple Street is a happy hospital with dedicated staff," he says, "but it is in constant need of funds and modernisation." Along with projects to get new equipment for Temple Street, Spring says there is also a drive to raise money for research. He says the hospital is very involved in research in various areas to improve the treatment of the children's illnesses. However, more money is needed to ensure that research can continue.

But why organise a Christmas card competition to raise money for the children's hospital? "We are delighted at the idea of children helping children who are sick," says Spring. He says the competition will create an awareness among children about others who are not so well. "It will also create an awareness among the parents of children who enter the competition who we hope will, in the long term, be supportive of the effort in the hospital," he says.

PRIMARY schools all over the State will this week receive information on the competition. There are no limits to the type of design and markers, crayons, paints or pencils can be used. Instead of folding the card in the normal way, entries are to be just sent on a flat A4 sheet of paper.

There are a number of important dates to remember regarding the Christmas card competition. The closing date is in two weeks time on November 2nd. The cards will then be judged by Ella Shanahan, editor of Education and Living supplement, and Robert Saunders of the Print Shop. The four lucky winners will be revealed in The Irish Times on November 9th, and on November 15th their cards will go on sale in Boots. On December 13th the winners must be present at Temple Street Hospital to hand over a cheque of the money made from the card.

So if you think the thrill of seeing your or your pupils very own Christmas cards being sold for a good cause then get cracking. Entries are to be sent to: Edelman Worldwide, Huguenot House, 35/38 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Entries must have "Christmas Card Competition" marked on the outside.