Local Labour representatives Gerald Jones MP and Dawn Bowden AM have picked this year’s winner of their annual Christmas card competition. The competition, open to all Primary Schools across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney invited pupils to design the cover image for this year’s Christmas cards to be used by Gerald and Dawn.

This year’s winner, Maja Marek from Dowlais Primary School, was presented with a Certificate and a £30 Gift voucher for Argos by both Gerald and Dawn at a special assembly. Her winning design included a festive red-nosed reindeer drinking a large mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Two runners up were also selected, Hollie Jones from Fochriw Primary and Katie Williams from White Rose Primary, who each received an Argos gift voucher worth £15 and will supply the personal cards of Dawn and Gerald respectively this year.

Gerald Jones MP was particularly impressed by the strength of entrants this year:

“The Christmas card competition was run to showcase some of the creativity that local children in the constituency have, and we haven’t been disappointed”, the MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney said.

“There have been so many really creative entries and it was very difficult to pick a winner. But Maja’s stood out for us because of its vibrancy of colours and artistic design.”

Dawn Bowden AM was also very pleased with the response of local schools to the competition:

“I’m always really impressed with how talented and creative young people in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney are and I’m very proud what they can do.

“Working with young people and our brilliant local schools is a real privilege and I would like to thank them all for taking part in this year’s Christmas Card competition.”