Winners of firework safety poster competition revealed

Sobiah Naveen-Harry, 10, won the 8-11-year-old category with her 'Be safe around fireworks' design and seven-year-old Tom Read scooped the 4-7-year-old class with his poster of a firework display in the night-sky of Witney.

The competition, run by Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards Team, invited pupils from schools across the county to design a poster promoting firework safety.

Entries on a range of subjects

Children from the 20 participating schools were asked to submit entries from a range of themes relating to firework safety from misuse, the law, anti-social behaviour, animals and having fun with fireworks.

The young artists who created 25 short-listed designs attended a ceremony at County Hall on Monday 4 November where the winning entries were chosen.

Sobiah and Tom were each given a rosette and an art and clay kit to mark their achievement.

Sobiah, who attends North Hinksey Primary School, said: "It took me about nine days to finish my design. I think it's important to know about being safe around fireworks so you don't get hurt."

Tom, who goes to The Batt School in Witney, said: "I had this idea of painting a picture with a silhouette in it - my design has fireworks going off with the silhouette of buildings in Witney in the background."

Importance of being safe around fireworks

The judging was carried out by Richard Webb, Manager of Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards team and Trading Standards Petroleum and Explosives Officers David Sandy and Richard Rockall.

Mr Webb said: "The standard of the designs received were of a high quality and it was a difficult decision to choose the winners. Many ideas were covered in the entries we received, including the importance of keeping pets safe and how fireworks can be fun.

"Sobiah and Tom's winning poster designs will be used next year to promote important firework safety messages across the county. I would like to congratulate them for winning the competition.

“Three out of four accidents connected to fireworks involve children and young people. We want young people to enjoy fireworks but they need to know that they can be dangerous if they are not used properly.

"Encouraging children to take part in a poster design competition is an ideal way of getting firework safety messages across to them."