Chard School pupil makes it to finals of Royal Mail stamp competition

The competition, organised by Royal Mail, is to honour the key workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Royal Mail will produce eight stamps to honour the heroes, with the designs created by school children.

Louis Richardson Sullivan, age 9, from Chard School, has reached the regional finalist stage of the competition.

Louis and Chard School are guaranteed a prize of anything from £100 up to £1000 depending on where his stamp design is placed.

Louis' Mum, Isabelle Richardson, from Axminster, said: "We are delighted for Louis and that it's amazing that his design was picked out over so many other entries.

"He based his design on a road in Chard - we feel very proud of him!"

Louis' stamp design is a picture of a postman delivering letters with a mask on.

A panel of judges will now determine the winning 24 regional designs, which will be announced this month.

From these 24 entries, eight will then be chosen as official Royal Mail stamps, which will be signed off by Her Majesty The Queen.

The stamps will then appear on mail items across the UK by Spring 2022.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson added: “It is of great credit to the children of this country that in world record breaking numbers they picked up their paintbrushes, pens and paints and paid artistic tribute to the heroes of our coronavirus response.

"Their brilliant efforts represent the collective gratitude of the nation to everyone who went above and beyond during the pandemic.

"Congratulations to all those who have made it to the next round and thank you to everyone who has taken part.”

All children aged 4-14 from across the UK (except residents of the Isle of Man and Channel Islands) were able to enter the competition through their school, or independently from a school with permission from an adult.

There were 606,049 entries, and 7,479 schools took part.