Colour the Coach 2018
Design your poster today for a chance to win!
And the winners are...
It was a fantastic year for the Colour the Coach competition, with entries coming to us far and wide across the UK. The votes have been counted and we can now reveal our winners for 2018 are...
- Alexandra, age 9, from Rochford
- Izzy, age 12, from Stockport
- Isabel, age 9, from Bristol
- Flora, age 7, from Edinburgh
- Emma, age 15, from Cardiff
- Emira, age 13, from Birmingham
Here are our winners with their designs:
What you need to know...
- Entrants must be 5-15 years old
- Entrants must design an A4 poster with the theme of promoting their hometown.
- There will be six winners in the regions of England's North, South, East, Midlands, Wales and Scotland.
- Each winner's entry will be added to the side of a National Express coach and they will also receive a set of paints and brushes each.
We wish all of our entrants the best of luck!
Previous winners
Here are some of our favourite winners from the past three years of Colour the Coach.
Click on each for a larger image.
Judging panel
To help us make our very difficult decisions on the winning entries, we enlisted a little professional help. Some of our favourite artists (and one non-artist!) will be helping us out and using their keen eye to choose their top posters.
You can find out more about them below:
Paul Parkin - Midlands artist
Paul lives in Castle Bromwich and owns the Jinx Art gallery based in the Custard Factory in High St Deritend. He'll be judging entries from the Midlands. The professional artist, aged 56, is well known in Birmingham for his unique drawings made from coffee.
Richard Berner - South East artist
Richard is a professional artist from Hove and enjoys taking his inspiration from the people and places of Brighton. His work, which is available online and in local art shops, includes fantastical prints of some of the town’s most famous landmarks. Richard, will be judging entries from the south of England.
Jenny Urquhart - South West artist
Jenny will be judging entries from the south west. Jenny is well known in Bristol for her colourful cityscapes featuring hot air balloons and her work has been exhibited in galleries all over the south west, including The Royal West of England Academy. In 2015 Jenny was recently selected by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park to design a Shaun the Sheep sculpture for the ‘Shaun in the City’ charity summer art trail.
Alison Lodge - Northern artist
Alison is a children's illustrator from Wilmslow, Cheshire. Her work ranges from books for babies, novelty books and picture books, to children's murals and graphic design work. Alison will be judging entries from the north of England.
Chris Hardy - National Express
Chris is National Express Coach's Managing Director, he lives in Hertfordshire with his family and, as a father of three, he has plenty of experience judging children's art. He is excited to have been appointed as a judge on this year's panel and looks forward to seeing all the creative talent on offer.
Terms & conditions
- Each of the six winners will see their designs turned into a unique vinyl wrap, displayed on a National Express service vehicle for an unspecified period of time.
- Each winner will win an art set as specified by National Express.
- Entries will be accepted from Thursday 19th of April 2018 and the competition will close at midnight on Monday 25th June 2018.
- Thirty finalists from six UK regions will be selected by National Express.
- The public will be invited to vote to pick six winners from these thirty finalists - one from each of the UK regions featured. The results of the public vote are final.
- The winner will be selected during w/c 25th June 2018 and will be contacted via the email or telephone number provided.
- Entrants must be aged between 5-15 years-old and reside in the UK.
- Entries must be submitted by post on an A4 sheet of paper or by email.
- Entries must include the entrant’s: name, email, age, address and a contact phone number, failure to include this information will invalidate the entry.
- Entrants are free to post their entry on social media using the hashtag #colourthecoach however this must be accompanied by a postal or email entry to be considered valid, and entrants must not post personal details on social media
- Only one (1) entry is allowed per entrant.
- National Express accepts no liability for any losses or injuries suffered in connection with the prize.
- No responsibility can be accepted for lost or misplaced entries, incomplete entries will be disregarded and entries will not be returned unless requested and entrants must pay for postal costs.
- Your date of birth will enable us to send more relevant communications to you in the future.
- By entering the competition you are giving permission for any photographic or video recordings of your image to be electronically displayed and used both internally at National Express and in any external public forum or media, for any purpose whatsoever, without seeking any additional consent.
- There is no time limit on the validity of this consent nor is there any geographic limitation on where these materials may be distributed.
- To withdraw your consent for National Express PLC to use your image, likeness or voice, you must notify National Express in writing allowing 28 working days this request to be fulfilled.
- Employees of National Express, related companies, their families and agencies and associated companies are not eligible to participate in the competition.
Entering next year
Entry for our 2018 competition is now closed, but keep the following in mind for next year!
1. Enter your poster using by email
2. Or you can enter by post by sending your posters to National Express Coach Art Competition, National Express House, Mill Lane, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DD
You can also share your poster on social media with the hashtag #colourthecoach or tagging @nationalexpress. However, please remember not to post personal details online.
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