Finalists of pandemic heroes’ stamp competition announced

Royal Mail has announced the 24 regional winners of a competition for youngsters to design stamps based on heroes of the pandemic.

The competition was open to UK schoolchildren to mark the important role played by key and frontline workers, as well as others, during the Covid crisis.

Children aged 4 to 14 were asked to think about who their heroes were, and to produce a design for an official Royal Mail stamp in their honour.

More than 600,000 entries were submitted from 7,479 schools across the UK.

Baroness Floella Benjamin, one of the judges, said: “For many children living through Covid has been a worrying time, so it was great to give them the opportunity to be artistically creative and share their vision of what they have experienced and their hopes for the future. The results are inspirational.”

Hannah Ingram-Moore, daughter of Captain Sir Thomas Moore, who was also a judge, said her family had been touched by how many designs there were of her father.”

The designs celebrated a range of heroes including NHS workers, parents, carers, refuse collectors, cleaning staff, teachers, supermarket workers, public transport staff, delivery drivers as well as postmen and postwomen.

The designs will progress to the next round, with a chance they will appear on a stamp next year.

The final selection of eight designs will be made by The Prince of Wales.