Children called on to get creative for bus design art competition

With the school holidays upon us, Scotland’s biggest bus operator is running a competition to give kids in Edinburgh the opportunity to see their artwork ‘wrapped’ on the side of a local bus.

First Scotland East is calling on local children to get involved in the bus company’s exciting Scotland-wide art competition, which will see the winning design placed on the side of a bus for thousands to see. The Scotland winner will also win a tour of Britain’s biggest bus depot in Edinburgh and will be presented with a video of their artwork being painted onto the side of the bus.

Winners from each region will be selected, too, and the lucky winner in Edinburgh will receive an exclusive goodie bag and a school visit from First Bus when the children are back in after the summer holidays.

The competition is running as part of Children’s Art Week, which this year, celebrates the theme of Connecting Across Generations. All kids need to enter is a sheet of plain paper, some bold colours to work with and their creative imagination.  Creative ideas can be submitted using any colour, pattern or drawing.

First Bus has already received some great entries, with some illustrations championing the relationship the city has with its NHS workers.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for local kids to celebrate their creative side during lockdown.

We’re looking forward to seeing the winning design bring a splash of colour and imagination to one of our buses in Edinburgh, which we hope will bring a smile to the faces of key workers and local communities along our routes.

“We wanted to give something back to the city that we proudly serve every day and we can’t wait to look through all the entries.”

Those entering the bus designing competition are encouraged to include their name and age and should submit entries to the First Scotland East Facebook page, @FirstScotlandEast.

The deadline for submissions is 6^th August 2020.

The competition is running in conjunction with First Bus’s Education Pack – an online educational resource created at the start of lockdown to provide primary aged children with a fun filled set of activities focused around buses.

The educational pack is available to download for free, from the following website link: www.firstscotlandeast.com/kidspack