BUDDING young artists have been rewarded for their creativity in helping bring a smile to others.

Castlegate Pharmacy launched The Big Community Children’s Art Competition in May to help bring a boost to the local community.

Youngsters were asked to create a picture based around the theme of happiness, and staff were thrilled when more than 140 entries were submitted.

They were judged in three age categories and the winners and runners-up were awarded National Book Tokens worth up to £100 at a prizegiving party last week.

Among the judges was Cockermouth artist Rolf Parker, of Skylark Studio, who will create a collage of the winners' and runners-up pieces to be displayed on the pharmacy’s delivery vans.

He said it was a difficult job due to the high standard of entries.

“Lockdown was a perfect time for anyone to concentrate on their artistic endeavours. It’s one of the most therapeutic and sometimes rewarding solitary pursuits you can do.

“Looking at children’s art is always interesting and often surprising, and the entries for this competition were no exception.

“When I was young I was lucky enough to receive generous encouragement from art teachers and friends which no doubt contributed to me continuing with it. Art competitions were a small part of that. As a judge, though, the hard part was choosing just a few winners from so many outstanding entries,” said Mr Parker.

Rachael Edwards, prescribing support lead, was pleased with the response from the community as well as local businesses who contributed towards the cost of the prizes.

“When you work through challenging and demanding days the one thing that keeps you going is people’s messages of positivity and thanks,” she said.

“We were thinking about all the kids at home and what they could be doing. It provided the children with an opportunity to draw something about happiness. What makes a difference to them, makes a difference to us.

“The quality of the entries was really good and it was really interesting to see what was going on within our community and was keeping children happy.

“It was an opportunity to keep them focused. A lot of negative news can be quite scary for the younger generation.

“A big thank you to the children who took part and to the local community for supporting the competition.”