Eight-year-old wins Christmas card competition

Alexandria Tucker, 8, has won Coast and Country Cottages' annual Christmas card competition. 

Salcombe and Dartmouth-based holiday letting agency Coast and Country Cottages has once again run its Christmas card designing competition, inviting students from primary schools across South Devon to get creative in preparation for the festive period.

Alexandria Tucker with her new art set, alongside her head teacher Mr Harrison

This year, the agency teamed up with the RNLI and in celebration of their 200th Anniversary, the children were encouraged to design a card that not only celebrated Christmas, but also incorporated a safety at sea twist.

The winning design this year was penned by Alexandria Tucker, 8, of Stoke Fleming Primary School.
After much deliberation by the judge, Alexandria was triumphant for her creation, which displayed some impressive artistic skills.

She has won herself art supplies worth £50 and a bundle of Christmas cards in her own design to share with friends and family - plus Stoke Fleming Primary School has received £200 to spend on supplies for its art department.

Alexandria's winning design 

Emily Mercer, Marketing Manager at Coast & Country Cottages, said: "We were thrilled to once again run our annual art competition – it always creates such an exciting buzz within the community, and the children love getting involved.

"This year, in light of it being the RNLI’s 200th Anniversary, we wanted to use this opportunity to celebrate the tireless work of the crew and volunteers, keeping people safe on our beautiful coastline.

"Well done to all of the children who took part, depicting everything from lifeboats with twinkling Christmas lights, to RNLI volunteers singing carols… and in some cases, soggy Santas stranded at sea and in need of rescue! The creativity was impressive."

The competition had a fantastic response, with hundreds of entries from children at schools across the South Hams.

Judging the competition was RNLI lifeguard, social media executive and illustrator Abby Mundell, who said: "I was absolutely blown away by the quality of these entries. The detail, creativity, and composition were astounding. I loved the colours and how they captured the spirit of both Christmas and the RNLI—each card showed so much imagination and talent.

"A massive well done to the winner; I can see some budding artists!"

The Christmas card has been printed and is being sent to Coast and Country Cottages’ holiday home owners and local business contacts, for them to enjoy.