19 November 2010

Card leads to early Christmas present for student Roisin

Roisin Connolly, a final-year student of Jewellery and Metal Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee, was today named as the winner of a competition for an image to be used on the official joint Christmas card of three Dundee politicians.

The competition brief was to create a design or image that could be printed on a Christmas card to reflect ‘the immense cultural opportunities that lie ahead for Dundee in the near future’. The card will be sent to thousands of people this Christmas by Dundee MSPs Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick, and MP Stewart Hosie.

The politicians were at the College today (Friday) to see the card and present Roisin with a cheque for £250.

Roisin said the £250 prize would be put towards compiling her final-year project rather than spent on Christmas shopping.

'This is a great boost for me, not just getting the money but in getting my work seen by the thousands of people who will be receiving the Christmas card,' said Roisin, (21), from Tayport.

Shona Robison said, 'I was delighted to meet Roisin and to congratulate her on her wonderful collage. It was the unanimous winner for all three of us and we liked the cultural references, the colour and particularly the humour of it.'

Joe FitzPatrick said, 'It is an attractive image which sums up key elements of Dundee cultural life and is witty and elegant.'

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie added, 'We will be sending out the image on the front of our official Christmas card this year and as the competition is part of a three-way tie up with sponsors ASDA and Fairprint which we hope will lead to a total donation of around £400 to Tickled Pink, a charity which supports people with breast cancer.

'We are delighted to be able to organise our official Christmas Cards in such a way that we can reward local talent and contribute to a very worthy charity.'

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