First Minister Mark Drakeford is asking budding young artists to put their creative hats on and enter this year’s Christmas card competition.

The winning design will be chosen by the First Minister and used as his official Christmas card.

The First Minister’s sends his Christmas card to thousands of people around the world, including to Her Majesty, the Queen, to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The competition is open to children in years 5 and 6 of primary school.

Following the First Minister’s visit to Glasgow for the COP26 Summit, the theme for this year’s contest is ‘Green Christmas’.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said:

"It was great to see hundreds of cards entered in the competition last year. This year I’m looking forward to seeing my desk covered again in brightly-coloured festive designs.

“I hope that the theme ‘Green Christmas’ will make children think about the way we can all play our part to cut pollution, protect our nature and our climate.

“We all need a little cheering up after a difficult year. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results of the children’s imaginations in my post bag.”

All entries should be to a maximum size of A4 (210mm x 297mm), can be portrait or landscape orientation and should be flat with no uneven surfaces, cotton wool or glitter. Bright, vibrant colours reproduce well but dark backgrounds should be avoided.

If you want to include text on the artwork then please ask your teacher for help with translation or use Google Translate. Here are some standard phrases too: Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas / Cyfarchion y Tymor - Season’s Greetings. Please put Welsh first followed by English.

Please include the person’s name and contact details with the entry.

Please note that unfortunately they will not be able to return any entries.

Images made on a computer device can be sent by email. Non-digital designs can still be sent by email – please take a clear and well-lit photograph of your hard-copy design, but please keep the original artwork so you can send it in if you are successful.

The closing date is Friday November 12.

Email your entries to [email protected]s