The Festive Card Competition: Start designing!

What is the Purple Mash Festive Card Competition?

Every year, we ask children to submit their own designs about what this time of year means to them, using the Purple Mash paint tool 2Paint a Picture.

The competition is going from strength to strength and last year we received over 11,500 entries from the UK alone! Can you help us get even more this year? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by submitting your own design to us before 5pm (GMT) on Friday 22nd of November.

What's new this year?

This year the goodwill and glad tidings are being extended to school staff as well. Yes, that's right - school staff can now submit their own designs and win some very special prizes too! We're sure there are some very talented artists among our brilliant Purple Mash staff members, and we can't wait to see your skills.

What can be won in the Festive Card Competition?

We've got prizes so fabulous that even the Grinch himself would crack a smile. We’ll choose our favourite design from each age group as a winner, plus a winner from the school staff category.

All winning children will receive:

• 50 printed copies of their card
• A £20 Amazon voucher
• A 2Simple goody bag

The winning staff member will receive:

• 50 printed copies of their card
• A £20 2Simple Shop voucher
• A goody bag

There will also be goody bags for runners up!

How it works

Participating in this holly jolly competition is as easy as icing a gingerbread biscuit! It's open to all children under 12 years old, and those who attend SEND provision up to the age of 18, as well as school members of staff.

All they need to enter is a flair for design and a Purple Mash account. If your school doesn't have a Purple Mash account, you can still enter by signing up for a free trial using this form.

To enter, children and staff simply design their own festive card using Purple Mash tool 2Paint a Picture and submit it to the digital Display Board for their age category. Entrants can begin their designs whenever they choose, but Display Boards will only be open for submissions from 4th-22nd November.

At the end of the competition, our favourite design from each category wins. It’s 2Simple!

There are three age categories:

• Under 5s
• Under 8s
• Under 12s

Those who attend SEND provision up to the age of 18 are welcome to enter the appropriate age group, as decided by their teacher.

There will also be a 'School Staff' category, for members of staff to submit their designs.

2Paint a Picture features 17 distinct art tools, each allowing children to explore different techniques and styles, providing almost endless possibilities for festive card designs. Take a look at the video to learn more about what’s possible with 2Paint a Picture.

When to submit entries

Although entrants can start designing their cards now, the competition is not open until 4th November and will run until 5pm GMT on Friday 22nd November.

This allows us time to get all prizes delivered to the winning pupils before the December holidays begin in the UK. However, as a global competition, any pupil worldwide has the chance to share with us what the festive season means to them.

How to enter

Purple Mash subscribers

The Festive Card Competition section of Purple Mash is where you'll find all the information you need, including a competition overview with the small details, terms and conditions, and other pieces of information that don’t make a very interesting blog post! This section will be updated with all the information for this year's competition soon.

We find that setting the competition as a 2Do for children to complete works well. Once children or staff have completed their design, they just need to click share and select the festive card Display Board for their age group. It’s as simple as that.

Try Purple Mash for free to enter

If you don't have a current subscription, you can still enter the competition by registering for an extended free trial. Simply complete the short form, and you'll be designing cards before you know it.

A little inspiration

Need some inspiration to get those festive creative juices flowing? Take a look at the winning entries from last year.

Important Information

• The competition is open from the 4th-22nd of November 2024. Entrants can start designing before this date, but Display Boards will not be open for submissions until 4th November.
• Entries submitted after 5 pm GMT 22nd November will not be entered into the competition.
• Judging will commence on 25th November.
• Winners will be announced shortly after the judging.
• The judges' decision is final and we will have 1 overall winner, plus 3 runners up, in each category.
• Winners and runners up will be contacted as soon as possible after the judging has been completed.