A BUDDING artist will have her work viewed by hundreds of thousands after winning a special competition.

Kitty Lloyd, 12, from Brighton, has been chosen as the cover artist for this year’s Brighton Fringe Family Guide.

Her winning design, which features performing elephants and a roaring lion, will appear on the 80,000 copies of the guide which will be distributed around Sussex from March 4.

She, along with 90 others, answered a call in The Argus before Christmas for youngsters aged 17 and under to send designs inspired by the phrase ‘It’s showtime’.

The Fiveways schoolgirl, who goes to Dorothy Stringer, said: “I’m really happy to have won. When I heard the theme for the competition I immediately thought about the circus.

“I developed it from there, using paper, coloured card and water colours to make a collage.

“I’ve been to Brighton Fringe many times before, what I like about it is you never see the same thing twice.

“I saw one event where cars were hung from a massive washing line, which has got to be my favourite so far. I also enjoyed the plays that were on in Preston Park, we had a picnic whilst watching and it was great.”

There are more than 70 family shows at this year’s Brighton Fringe including comedy, cabaret, theatre and large-scale outdoor events.

As part of her prize, Kitty will receive VIP tickets to all family shows at The Warren, one of the Fringe’s biggest venues.

The five runners up will get tickets to a show of their choice.

Kitty’s mum Vicky Lloyd said the family was “thrilled”.

She added: “Hopefully this will be the start of an artistic career”.

Julian Caddy, managing director of Brighton Fringe, said: “We were amazed at the massive number of applications this year and are so grateful for the time and effort spent by every single artist who submitted their work.

“It was a truly inspiring sight and one that, to me, embodies what Brighton Fringe is all about in creating an essential platform for new work.”

The Fringe, which is the country’s largest arts festival, runs from May 1 to 31.

For a full preview of the event see The Argus on Tuesday. For more details visit brightonfringe.org