Children’s Christmas card design competition

The Salvation Army is calling on all budding artists from throughout the UK to design festive, colourful and heart-warming Christmas cards for inclusion in the church and charity’s Don’t Send Me a Card Christmas campaign. 

The competition is a chance for children of all ages to use their creative skills to bring Christmas cheer to others and help The Salvation Army to raise money to help children and families who are struggling to make ends meet. 

The winning design will receive £100 gift voucher, two runners up each receive a £50 voucher and the winner in each age group will each receive a £20 voucher. As well as creating an environment-friendly way to send a Christmas greeting, the winning design will also feature on the front cover of The Salvation Army’s Kids Alive! magazine.

There are four different age categories to enter:

• under 7s
• 7-9s
• 10-12s 
• 13-16 

Last year’s winner Siyona, age 14 said: 

“This competition gave me wonderful opportunity to combine my artistic skill with the Christmas theme! It gave me immense joy to receive my winning voucher - certainly a cherished moment for my whole family and I was able to choose the items from the store and shared those with my cousins and friends: as my Christmas card 2022 says, 'Share the joy of giving”. 

Siyona’s design was among 200 entries received. 

Kids Alive! editor, Justin Reeves said: “Christmas should be a time of joy and celebration, but we know many people in our communities are really struggling this year. This competition gives children the opportunity to bring joy to other people, and at the same time help us to raise vital funds which enable us to offer some respite to the people most in need this Christmas.” 

Competition guidelines

• Design an A4 hand drawing/painting/sketch or a computer-generated image of something Christmassy – if computer generated, you’ll need to print it out
• Post the design along with your name, age, address, and parents’ email address (children need their parent’s permission to enter)
• Don’t fold your A4 design, please post it to us in an A4 envelope to the following address: Events and Community, 1 Champion Park, London, SE5 8FJ.. 
• Get your entry to us no later than Friday 24 November.

Here is the freepost address for if you wish to post your design free of charge: Freepost RUGC-XZAY-GRKG Supporter Services Unit, 3rd Floor, The Salvation Army, 1 Champion Park LONDON SE5 8FJ.

The Salvation Army’s Don’t Send Me A Card Christmas campaign asks people to send an e-card to their friends and family, and at the same time make a donation to enable The Salvation Army to help the church and charity bring some comfort and joy to the most vulnerable people in our communities. Once the competition winner is announced, their design will be available here: https://www.dontsendmeacard.com/ecards/charities/the-salvation-army