South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

CONGRATULATIONS to 12 year old Faye Selby from Trinity School in Newbury for her winning entry into the South East England Development Agency's (SEEDA's) Christmas Card competition.

This year's Competition was open to entries from the SEEDA funded Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G), which operate in over 120 schools across the region. The competition encouraged girls, aged between 10-14, to make use of the IT skills they have learned in their clubs, in designing a card that visualised what Christmas in the region means to them.

SEEDA's Chief Executive, Pam Alexander, comments; "I would like to thank all the girls who worked so hard on their entries into the competition. Well done to everyone, the standard of entries was excellent, which made the judging extremely difficult. The competition has highlighted some of the impressive IT skills that the girls have learnt during their time at CC4G."

As part of the winning prize, Faye, aged 12, visited the printers to see her card being produced and witness the finished product come hot off the press. Faye has also won £100 worth of IT equipment for her Computer Club.

Faye comments, "I am very happy to have won the competition, it was really exciting seeing my design turned into a real Christmas card. Computer Clubs for Girls have really helped me learn about computers in a fun and interesting way."

CC4G was designed by the e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT telecoms and contact centres, to address the declining number of women entering into careers in IT, by tackling the negative perceptions that girls have about technology. Melody Hermon from e-skills comments, "Feedback shows that the clubs are having a direct impact on the attitudes and aptitudes of the girls, with 93% stating that they are no longer afraid of computers. In fact, over 40% of the girls involved in CC4G are now interested in an IT career. E-skills UK has extended CC4G to schools in London , Fife and Wales and, with support from the DfES, CC4G is set to roll-out nationally over the next four years."

Faye's colourful festive design will now be sent out not only regionally, but also nationally and internationally to over 2,000 people. In addition, Faye's winning design, along with a selection of entries will be displayed here on the SEEDA web site shortly.