A TOTAL of 142 children entered Chestnut Tree House‘s first ever snowman-themed Christmas card competition.

It was open to children aged from four to 12 and was judged by Chestnut Tree House Patron and creator of The Snowman Raymond Briggs CBE.

The competition invited children to get inspired by The Snowman and draw or paint their own spectacular snowman scene.

The entries were judged by a panel at Chestnut Tree House with Raymond Briggs choosing the final two winners – six-year-old Luca Wawrzyniak and ten-year-old Caleb Edser, both from Brighton.

Each winner received a Sony digital camera, £100 to spend on Penguin Random House books and a copy of The Snowman book signed by Raymond Briggs.

Their designs will also feature in Chestnut Tree House’s 2018 Christmas card range, available in their charity shops and online.

The winners were invited to visit the hospice to receive their prizes from The Snowman.

Luca’s mum Ella Walsh said: “Luca was so pleased when I told him that he had won. He loves getting creative and really enjoyed designing his own snowman scene for the competition.”

Unfortunately, Caleb was unable to visit Chestnut Tree House to receive his prize but Caleb’s dad Matt Edser said: “Caleb was really excited when he found out he had won the competition.

“Actually, we all were!

“He did his entry while he was spending time at Chestnut Tree House and we never even thought about winning.

“We’ve already got some of his festive artwork on our wall at home and can’t wait to see his snowman Christmas card design in print next year.

“Caleb has been visiting Chestnut Tree House since 2012 and the support we receive from them makes a huge difference to our lives.”

Raymond also selected four runners-up – Edie Stacy from Hastings aged eight, Amy Derbyshire from Alciston, aged eight, Katherine Taylor from Horsham, aged ten, and Rihanna Vine from Bognor, aged nine, who will all receive a personalised signed card from the illustrator.

Janet Parsons, head of communications at Chestnut Tree House said: “This year marks a decade of friendship between Chestnut Tree House and The Snowman, and even longer with our patron, Raymond Briggs.

“His iconic Snowman is the focal point for our annual Snowman Spectacular Fundraising Ball every December but we wanted to do something special this year and involve a wider, younger audience with our snowman activity.

“Raymond spent a lot of time looking at each and every entry.”