A school in the southern UK county of Hampshire has been awarded first prize in a national competition organised by marketing organisation's Foods from Spain, in which students were invited to design a collage on the theme of healthy eating with fresh fruit and vegetables.
Children from Southbourne Junior School won this year's National Primary Schools Competition with an artwork entitled '5 a Day the Spanish Way'. The collage showed a colourful and cheerful collection of Spanish fruits and vegetables.
The school beat hundreds of entries from around the country to receive first prize, which included £3,000 to spend on new equipment or facilities.
Now in its third year, this year's National Primary Schools Competition was launched in April as part of Foods from Spain’s campaign to promote fresh Spanish fruit and vegetables.
Presenting the prize, Foods from Spain director María José Sevilla said the competition had produced some excellent results once again.
'Our National Primary Schools Competition has again attracted excellent pieces of artwork from around Britain on the subject of Spanish fresh produce and eating healthily,' she commented.
'Judges from the world of art and food have been very impressed by the range of collages they’ve seen, and the imaginative mix of healthy eating messages, Spanish language and fruit and vegetables that these pictures show.'
She added: “Educating children about including fruit and vegetables in their diet is more important today than ever, and this competition really focuses the minds of teachers, parents and pupils on the imperative to eat well - and the role Spanish fresh produce has to play in doing so.”
The judging panel for the competition included representatives from the Tate Modern and the London International Gallery of Children’s Art, as well as food and children’s journalists and Spanish chef José Pizarro.
Bigyn Primary School in Dyfed, Wales, won second place in the competition - and a £1,000 prize, while Legh Vale Primary School in Merseyside, England, won £500 for its third-place collage.
Five collages chosen as winners in each of the four year groups and special needs categories received a set of Foods from Spain sports bibs; runners up schools received sets of Foods from Spain pencils.
In addition, all of the schools that entered the National Primary Schools Competition received a certificate from the Spanish Ambassador to the UK.
The winning and runners up entries to the National Primary Schools Competition 2008 can be seen at: www.foodsfromspain.co.uk
