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Talented year-five student Molly Ohayon was chosen as the National Pupil Prize Winner by Kirsten O’Brien, CBBC presenter and long-time host of children’s art programme SMart, together with the curator for V&A Museum of Childhood Ieuan Hopkins and a panel of travel industry experts.

The challenge, which asked kids across the UK to create postcards illustrating holidays of the past, present and future, included a selection of top travel prizes donated by ABTA members for the winning schools.

For her efforts she will receive the fantastic prize of a seven-night all-inclusive family holiday to Costa del Sol, generously donated by tour operator First Choice.  Molly also received first prize in the Greater London region for her entry, winning £250-worth of new art supplies for her school. The prize was sponsored by Isleworth-based tour operator Sunvil Holidays.

The strength of its entries from pupils secured Newland House the National School Prize - a fully inclusive executive 49-seat coach trip of up to three days to either London or Paris, courtesy of educational holidays specialist Acorn Travel Group.

Meanwhile Head of Art at Newland House School, John Ritchie, has received the National Teacher’s Prize of a three-night break for a family of four to Malta, thanks to the Malta Tourism Authority:

“The competition really sparked the imagination of the children and got them thinking about how important holidays are to people. ABTA provided a dedicated teachers’ pack which gave a really good focus to our lessons.

“Also the competition’s microsite was very well organised, with lots of fantastic archive material that provided great inspiration to the children.”

The national runner up prize went to Talia Amieni, a year-six student at St. Joseph's RC Junior School in Swansea. Lucky Talia will receive a two-night break for her family at Disneyland Paris, generously donated by Eurostar.

The School’s Art Challenge is part of the association’s 60th anniversary celebrations which saw over 2,000 entries being submitted to the competition from schools nationwide. Winners and runners-up prizes have been awarded in 11 regions across the country.

The challenge invited children aged seven-eleven to imagine their perfect holiday from the past, present and future by designing picture postcards which illustrate the evolution of travel throughout the ages. The Challenge aimed to encourage artistic development through a specially created teacher’s pack that fitted with National Curriculum.

The innovative Schools Art Challenge was designed not only to celebrate ABTA’s 60 years as long-standing guardians of travel but also to inspire the UK’s future generations of travellers and help them become more aware of issues such as sustainability and environmental impact, and how they may affect the British travel industry in the future.

The winning designs will make their mark in travel history by being transformed into a commemorative anniversary postcard pack as a gift for the delegates attending ABTA’s annual Travel Convention. The Travel Convention is the most significant event of the year for the British travel and tourism industry; this year it will be held in Malta in October, where the winning designs will also be displayed.

In the meantime, the award winning entries will be exhibited in ABTA’s headquarters in London.

Visit http://www.abta.com/60yearsontopoftheworld to view the winning postcard designs.

      -ENDS-

For further information please contact James Watts, Rebecca Shay or Candice Wagener at Siren PR on 020 3008 6280 or  
e-mail:james.watts@sirenpr.co.uk, rebecca.shay@sirenpr.co.uk or candice.wagner@sirenpr.co.uk

Notes to Editors
ABTA – The Travel Association was founded in 1950 and currently has 1,351 members with 5,700 outlets. Members include travel agents, tour operators and support services right across the spectrum from small family-owned businesses to the largest tour operators.

ABTA is the largest travel association in the UK and its members provide 90% of the foreign package holidays in the UK as well as selling millions of independent travel arrangements.

In 2008 ABTA merged with the Federation of Tour Operators [FTO], thereby cementing its role as the leading travel association and increasing benefits for both ABTA and FTO members. Both the ABTA brand which is highly recognised by consumers and the FTO brand which is well known in destinations will be retained.

As part of its comprehensive package of services to members, ABTA, as a non-party political organisation works to represent the interests of its Members to government and key opinion formers in the UK and EU.