Winners of PCC Art Contest Revealed

Well over 100 posters were submitted by young people from schools across the Caerphilly County Borough Council area to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse. The posters were judged by a panel on Thursday (July 17th) morning at the Council's Headquarters in Penallta House.

The competition was organised by the Caerphilly Junior Forum, a forum for children aged 8-11 who represent their schools and raise issues affecting them so they become actively involved in local decision making.

The competition sprung into life after the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Ian Johnston, met the Junior Forum members last month. The children had the opportunity to question the Commissioner and Lyn Webber from his funded Gwent Drugs Interventions Programme on the forum's priority issue of 'people using drugs may cause harm in their communities and to other people'.

The children also highlighted that alcohol was an issue and they said that 'people need to know about the effects of drinking too much alcohol and that adults who are drunk can be frightening to children.'

The children and young people requested for a poster competition to be organised between primary schools in the Borough under those two headings and the Commissioner agreed to offer three prizes for the winning schools to purchase any school related supplies or to fund activities.

After much deliberation by the judges, the winners have now been announced. The 1st prize of å£500 went to Trinant Primary school thanks to the winning poster made by Ellicia-Mai Jones. The 2nd prize of £300 went to Demi Rees of Trinant Primary School and the 3rd prize of £200 went to Derwen Deg Primary School thanks to Alex-Jaye Done's submission.

The winning posters are displayed on the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioners website and social media sites to raise awareness about the dangers of substance abuse. Caerphilly County Borough Council's Community Safety Department have also agreed to display the winning alcohol related posters on Blackwood High Street to make people think about how alcohol abuse impacts on young children.

Congratulating all the winners and all those who submitted the work, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Ian Johnston, said: "I want to congratulate all the winners and all those who worked so hard on submitting posters to raise awareness about such important community issues. We were delighted by the quality and the volume of submissions. We want fewer victims of crime and to protect people from serious harm and competitions such as this one play an important role in raising awareness about the dangers of substance abuse amongst school children and young people."

The Commissioner will present the pupils and the winning schools with their prizes when the new term starts in September.