Christmas Card Competition 2023 | Irwin Mitchell

This December, we’ve been making our lists and checking them twice, as our excitement grows for the holidays.

To build excitement for the most wonderful time of the year, we unwrapped our Christmas card competition for children with additional needs. The winning entry will feature on our annual holiday card to clients. Entrants had the chance to win an iPad, with prizes for second and third place too.

This year, we were blown away that so many entries came down our chimney. We’d like send everyone who submitted their artwork a festive thank you.

Our panel of judges loved seeing different takes on the festive spirit. Our partner Anna Stacey, said:

“We were amazed by the number of entries we received for our competition, and it’s been an absolute pleasure for me and my colleagues to judge the designs by such inspirational children.

“It was really tough to pick a winner, but we’re proud to showcase James’ artwork on our Christmas card this year. We found his determination to be creative despite his challenges very inspirational.

"Here’s our pick of the entries we received that brought our judges so much joy."

Our top three

Our Winner – James Tortice, aged 11 from Leeds

James drew the design after watching his favourite Christmas films, and imagining Father Christmas flying over the city. James is autistic and has ADHD, so finds drawing and using his imagination really hard, but it's one of his favourite hobbies.

Second place – Thomas Smedley, aged 12 from Leeds

picture of a robin tree drawn by competition entrant

Thomas wanted to create a Robin because that’s his cousins name and he loves her. Whenever Thomas and his family out in Roundhay park, his parents point out the robins as special Christmas birds. Thomas’s favourite time of year is Christmas, so he gets very excited when he sees a robin as he knows it’s not too many sleeps away!

Third place – Ivan, aged 4 from Nuneaton

picture of a variety of xmas trees drawn by competition entrant

Ivan finger painted the background to his painting, and when it was dry he used his Pecs cards to pick the Christmas tree stencil to finish his card. He painted these with a sponge, which is quite difficult for Ivan as he struggles with his fine motor skills. But really enjoyed himself!