A Year 8 boy has won a national Covid-19 health & safety competition with a colourful design inspired by Lord Kitchener’s iconic World War I recruitment poster.
Anik Singh won the secondary school category of the contest with his watercolour highlighting some key coronavirus safety precautions.
Anik, who is keen on both Art and Technology, was congratulated on his success by Head of Technology Michael Noonan: “This is a tremendous effort from Anik, and it’s brilliant to see him take the influence of historical events in his work. I hope this competition win spurs him on to even greater heights.”
In recognition of his success, competition organisers at e4education, the leading school website provider, had 50 copies of his poster professionally printed. These have now been distributed around the School, complementing QE’s own Back to School Guide and accompanying anti-Covid 19 posters and banners.
In the design, the familiar Kitchener figure looking straight out of the poster is transformed into a masked medic. Under the main title ‘Your country needs YOU to follow the advice and rules’, are references to three specific measures: “Always try and stay 2M apart”, “Wash your hands frequently for 20 seconds with soap” and “If you use public transport, wear a mask”.
Anik said he had aimed to make the poster as colourful as possible, so that, in his words: “You should want to stop and look at it.”
Katie Sixsmith, Marketing & Communications Executive for e4education, explained why the design had so impressed the judges. “We were blown away by the technical skill of this drawing and loved the multi-coloured effect combined with the themed interpretation of a historical poster.”