Owen Lockwood and Georgina Sharpe from Ipswich have been named the East Anglian winners in a national cycling safety competition after wowing judges with their brand new design of a bike helmet.
The competition, launched last summer by national charity, the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust and WD-40 Multi-Use product, urged primary school children to come up with a brand new design to be used on a bike helmet. The initiative was a resounding success with over 2,000 entries from talented youngsters across the UK.
The shortlisted designs were marked by a panel of expert judges from the cycling industry using criteria such as use of colour, originality and creativity. Owen, age nine, impressed the judges with his striking design and use of bright contrasting colours and Georgina impressed with her pretty swirly design and use of soft pastel colours.
The children, who attend Ranelagh Primary School, won their school a cycling safety assembly with special guest Angie Lee, the Chief Executive of the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust. Angie advised pupils about the life-saving benefits of wearing a bike helmet and talked about the importance of keeping your bike well maintained to stay safe.
In the assembly, Angie presented Owe and Georgian with a special certificate of achievement and prize of a goodie bag packed full of cycling merchandise and toys.
Angie Lee, Chief Executive of the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust, said: “We know that image and peer pressure is one of the big factors that deters a lot of young cyclists from wearing a helmet and this project gave us a fascinating insight in to what young people themselves find appealing.
“We were extremely impressed with the high level and quality of entries. There are certainly some extremely artistic youngsters out there and I’d like to congratulate Owen and Georgina on their fantastic designs.”
Amy Briggs, from WD-40, said: “It is essential that children learn from a young age that wearing a helmet and keeping bicycles roadworthy and well maintained is vitally important to stay safe.
“We were delighted with the amazing amount of entries for the competition and engagement with so many schools across the UK. It was extremely hard to judge but Owen and Georgina’s imaginative design really stood out from the crowd.”
The winning design was drawn by Ben Capon from Somerset who impressed judges with his detailed drawing of a monster, his design will be now be used on 250 brand new helmets created by Lazer helmet manufacturers and given to disadvantaged youngsters across the UK.
He will also have the award-winning Animal WD-40 Sports Action Tour perform at his school – a fantastic stunt show that has to be seen to be believed.