​A competition to design a Christmas card for CELCIS aims to give looked after children the chance to get creative

Looked after children across Scotland are being urged to get creative and have a go at designing a Christmas card for a national competition.

The Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) at the University of Strathclyde will use the best card submitted by budding young artists as its Christmas card this year.

The competition, which is open to all looked after children in Scotland, is in its fourth year and as well as seeing their card shipped out to thousands of people around the world, the winning designer will receive a gift voucher to the value of £50.

CELCIS is looking for designs that have lots of colour, show a vivid imagination and, most importantly, originality. Last year's card (pictured right) was created by Sam from Craigielea Children's Centre.

Jennifer Davidson, director at CELCIS, said: “The Christmas season can be a particularly challenging time for children and young people living in, and on, the edges of care and their families. At CELCIS, we believe in ensuring these young are provided with the much needed support that they need, in the hope of making long-lasting improvements to their lives.

“Creativity and the arts are important outlets that many children and young people deeply value in their lives, and these can be especially important to those that have experienced trauma. Our competition opens up a small but fun opportunity for looked after children, at this time of year, to use their creativity in an additional way by coming up with designs that will be used on all our Christmas cards. We had a tremendous response last year, we know many children and young people enjoyed creating something very special, and we are hopeful for the same this year.”

The deadline for entries to the competition is Friday 25 November. The designs will be judged by CELCIS staff members and the runners up will have their designs published online.