Daniel Zeichner, Member of Parliament for Cambridge, has selected the winner and runners-up of his 2018 Christmas card competition and has personally congratulated each of them for their artistic contributions in recent days.

This year’s competition included a ‘stand-out’ entry by Leonel, aged 7, from Shirley Community Primary School, which Mr Zeichner has selected as the winner. Leonel is partially sighted and incorporated Braille into his entry, which Mr Zeichner has said will make this year’s card ‘extra special’.

Hundreds of local school children entered this year’s competition; with pictures showing a range of festive scenes. Leonel drew a picture of Father Christmas, walking through the forest, calling out “Merry Christmas Everybody” and “Ho Ho Ho” in Braille. The image and Braille will now be on the front of the Cambridge MP’s Christmas card, which will be sent to over a thousand people including local charities, organisations, Members of Parliaments and friends.

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to all the children that took part in the competition this year. As is the case every year, there were many fantastic entries that made picking the runners-up a difficult task.”

“This year however the winner stood-out as soon as I saw it because of the excellent drawing and the inclusion of Braille. Leonel clearly put a lot of time and effort into his entry and I am very grateful because I have a fantastic Christmas card to send out to people.”

“My office and I have learnt a great deal about Braille during this process, for example I did not know that there were two types of Braille! 12,000 people across the UK rely on braille and I thank Leonel for reminding us that access to even simple things, like a Christmas Card greeting, requires a little extra though. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting Leonel and all runners-up at their schools, and presenting them with their award.”