Students from Liverpool Community College have won first and second prize in an anti-bullying poster competition.
The first year students were split up into two groups to enter the competition, which had over 100 entries from several schools and colleges across Merseyside.
Lorna Warburton, Kateryna Kovalenko and Samantha Thain, won first prize, which was £80 worth of ‘love to shop’ vouchers whilst the runners- up, Amy Perry, Anna Brady, Melissa Abbott and Sarah-Marie Robinson won £50 worth of vouchers.
Kateryna Kovalenko, 16, a budding social worker said: “When our tutor announced that we had won the competition, we were so shocked because we weren’t expecting to win.”
Merseyside Youth Association (MYA) created the competition to challenge entrants to produce a piece of artwork highlighting the importance of the campaign.
Vicky Rest, a mental health promoter at MYA, said: “From the posters we were looking for boldness, brightly coloured images which stood out, and a clear message about bullying and its impact.”
Sarah Coyne, a tutor at Liverpool Community College, said: “I am really proud of what the students have managed to achieve. Their artwork was fantastic and with all the hard work they put into the project I believe they are worthy winners.”
The students who are studying College First in Health, Social Care and Children and Young People’s Settings, were also presented with certificates at the Student Health and Wellbeing Event on Monday.
Their certificates were presented by the college Deputy Principal, Angela Cox, to mark students’ achievement.Lorna Warburton, 16, who wants to be a nursery nurse, said: “It’s for a worthwhile cause, I haven’t seen any bullying in college, but it is definitely a worldwide issue.”
The groups considered several ideas and concepts when creating the poster, which took the girls just two days to design and make.
Samantha Thain, 17, from Liverpool said: “We put a picture of Barbie in the middle of the poster to show not everyone is perfect, some girls aim to look like Barbie – who is unrealistic. We also put Twitter and Facebook symbols on the poster because these are ways which bullying often occurs.”
Dee Fearnhead, Counselling and Wellbeing manager at Liverpool Community College said: “Our students scooped top prizes and I would like to thank their tutor Sarah Coyne for getting them involved.”
Merseyside Youth Association is currently looking for a venue to display the finalist’s artwork.