Primary school pupils from around Northern Ireland competed in this one-of-a-kind competition to design a special present for Her Majesty the Queen to commemorate her Platinum Jubilee. Over 2000 drawings depicting’snapshots of Northern Ireland’ envisaged as a postcard to Her Majesty the Queen were chosen as finalists.
Ulster Carpets, situated in Portadown, will turn the winning design into a beautiful rug. Her Majesty The Queen recently granted Ulster Carpets a Royal Warrant, making it one of only three Northern Ireland businesses to do so.
Later this year, the rug will be presented at a special ceremony, with the winning child and their class invited. Following the event, Her Majesty the Queen will receive the specially created jubilee rug.
Conor Burns, Minister of State for Northern Ireland, said:
“I am overwhelmed with the quality and quantity of responses we have received from children in every county in Northern Ireland.”.
“I’d like to thank all the children, parents and teachers who have helped to mark this historic occasion in such a special way. It has been an incredibly difficult job to choose just 30 from amongst such amazing designs.
“I can’t wait to see the winning design brought to life by the wonderfully talented designers at Ulster Carpets, who have recently been awarded the Royal Warrant by Her Majesty.
Group Managing Director of Ulster Carpets Nick Coburn said:
“We are amazed at the creativity and imagination shown by our talented young people. They have really captured the many different ways that we think of this wonderful place that we live in. We look forward to transforming one of these designs into a rug for Her Majesty The Queen.”
Principal of Foyle Integrated Primary, Neville Watson said:
“We loved the innovative idea of a child’s artistic expression of a snapshot of Northern Ireland being turned into a rug and it was great to see so many children taking the idea and running with it. To hear that we’ve had some of our pupils make it into the final 30 is really exciting and there will be lots of little fingers crossed here in anticipation of the result!”