The Big Issue calls on children to get creative for its Christmas cover

The winning design will feature on the front of hundreds of thousands of magazines sold across Britain.

Since the first competition in 2013, The Big Issue has seen thousands of entries from young readers. The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Christmas Wishes’ and designs can take any form, from drawings to paintings to digital art.

The entries will be judged by the Editor of The Big Issue, Paul McNamee, as well as two guest judges Nick Sheridan and Sarah McInyre.

Nick is a journalist and broadcaster whose new book called Breaking News is out on December 23. Sarah is an acclaimed children’s author and illustrator best known for her books including Grumpycorn and Dinosaur Firefighters.

Paul McNamee, Editor of The Big Issue, said: “I ho, ho, ho, hope kids will blow us away with their amazing artwork! All of our vendors look forward to selling a magazine with the winning kids cover. The only problem is how hard it’ll be to pick the winner!”

Entrants need to make sure to include THE BIG ISSUE on the cover and send entries in by November 22.

Entrants can post entries to Christmas Kids Cover Competition, The Big Issue, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW or email high-resolution pictures to: [email protected] – with a name, age, address and telephone or email contact on all entries.

The Big Issue can’t return artwork but will print as many pictures as possible onto the page. All entries will also feature in an online gallery.

The Big Issue recently celebrated its 30th Birthday, in that time the organisation has helped over 105,000 vendors earn over £144 million.