Sun on Sunday launches Christmas card competition to raise money for Young Lives vs Cancer

On Sunday 31 October national newspaper Sun on Sunday launches a Christmas card design competition for children to enter.  The winning designs will be on sale via Young Lives vs Cancer online shop and its 13 charity shops. All proceeds will go towards Young Lives vs Cancer and buying presents for children and young people spending Christmas at our Homes from Home this year. 

From today, children up to the age of 16, are invited to enter the Sun on Sunday’s Christmas card competition. The competition will be split into three categories; under 5s, 6-10 and 11-16. Instructions and guidelines on how to enter can be found below.  

Designs will then be judged by a panel of celebrity judges before going on sale on our online store and charity shops from 29 November. Money raised through the card sales will go towards Young Lives vs Cancer, the UK’s leading charity for children and young people with cancer, and buying presents and toys for children staying at our 10 Homes from Home this Christmas. 

The winners of the competition will be announced on 21 November and cards will be available to buy from 29 November. Cards will be sold in packs of 12, with four cards of each winning design. 

Money raised will go towards keeping families together this Christmas, while they’re going through the toughest times. Our 10 Homes from Home across the UK provide families with a free place to stay nearby to the hospital while their child is having cancer treatment. As well as helping with the financial impact of travelling to and from hospital from home, often several times a week, our Homes also help families stay together. They provide a clean, comfortable place to stay, cook together, watch TV together and be a family. 

All prints of the winning Christmas card designs are kindly being donated by Printed.com. Their founder Nick Green will also be helping to judge the final entries. He had this to say: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with The Sun on Sunday and Young Lives vs Cancer. Christmas is a time for coming together and we hope we can help support those most in need.”

To take part in the card competition, entries should be emailed to sundayfeatures@the-sun.co.uk 

When creating your design, please keep within the following guidelines; 

• No low resolution images/scans 
• No glitter 
• No text too close to edge 
• No highlighter/illuminous colours 
• No silver or gold gel pen writing. It turns dull when printed 

To find out more about the competition, visit: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16586474/christmas-cards-for-kids-cancer/   

If you’d like to make a donation to Young Lives vs Cancer this Christmas please visit: www.younglivesvscancer.org.uk/CardsForKids 

Gaby Roslin says she would have jumped at the chance to enter The Sun on Sunday’s Christmas Cards for Kids competition and show off her artistic skills if she was young enough to enter.

An ambassador for Young Lives vs Cancer for many years, Gaby was proud to help launch the campaign on October 31 which will raise money for children with cancer.

“I did GCSE Art, I loved it,’ she told The Sun on Sunday.

“This competition would have been right up my street. My Mum died of lung cancer and dad survived bowel cancer in the 90s. I’ve lost too many friends to cancers.

“Christmas Cards for Kids is an amazing idea supporting an amazing charity I’ve been fortunate enough to be ambassador to for years. It should be law that you can only buy a Christmas card that benefits charity. I can’t wait to order mine as soon as they’re available.”

Gaby will also have a say in which three designs will be turned in to cards to raise money and is delighted to be one of the judges for the competition.

Card sales will help buy toys for children and young people with cancer this Christmas.

Donations made will go directly to the charity’s 10 Homes from Home around the UK, which offer a free place to stay for families whose children are being treated at nearby hospitals.

Gaby said: “I’ve visited the Homes from Home and met the amazing young people who stay in them during treatment.

“A cancer diagnosis is always devastating, no matter what the age, but for young people it can be about keeping life as normal as possible during treatment and Young Lives Vs Cancer do that in so many ways. Young people can be so resilient, but this charity is there for young people, their parents and everyone affected by a diagnosis.”

Having lost her mum to lung cancer in 1997 and after watching her dad BBC Newsreader Clive Roslin survive bowel cancer, the radio presenter and mum of two has made sure her two daughters Libbi-Jack, 20 and Amelie, 14 are familiar with the signs of different cancers and have checked themselves from a young age.

“I remember doing a TV show with Dad in the 90s because he wanted to bang the drum and raise awareness for bowel cancer,” said Gaby. “It was a pre recorded interview. He talked about checking your poo and when we cut for a break, the presenter asked if he could avoid using the words poo or bottom. He wanted to get the message out about bowel cancer. We have to stop being squeamish about cancers, check everything, check your body, your poo, whatever it takes.”

While Gaby can’t wait to judge the brilliant entries, the podcast presenter says Christmas Cards for Kids is a brilliant way for families to remember what the festive season is really all about.

“It’s a time of year we think about consuming, the panic buying of toys in recent weeks has shown that,” she said. “But I’ve visited the Homes from Home. I’ve spoken to young people who’ve spent Christmases in them. It doesn’t matter if they think you’re good at art or not, encourage the young people in your life to enter this competition and give a Christmas card design a go. Buying these cards will help young people across the country this Christmas and in Christmases to come.”

To enter the competition go to www.thesun.co.uk/news/16586474/christmas-cards-for-kids-cancer/