South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Protecting the environment and conserving precious natural resources is high on the list of priorities for the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) - and to prove it the Agency has decided not to send out printed Christmas cards this year. Instead, SEEDA will communicate seasonal greetings to its thousands of contacts via the Internet.

To enable SEEDA to create a suitably eye-catching 'electronic Christmas card', Young Engineers Clubs in schools and colleges throughout the South East have been invited to submit design ideas that reflect what it's like to live or work in the region. Designs will be short-listed for competition prizes totalling £2,500.

The winning e-card will be incorporated on the web sites of SEEDA and Young Engineers and emailed to businesses and organisations around the region.

Chief Executive of SEEDA, Anthony Dunnett, said: "We decided that this year we would not be sending out conventional Christmas cards but would try to live up to our 'Green' credentials by communicating our Christmas messages by email and on the web. This is far more environmentally sustainable than consuming yet more paper and card, and by running this competition for schools we hope that we have moved further towards our goal of a 'wired region', where more and more people communicate electronically."