11 year old Gemma wowed the judges with her clever logo design for Cambridge Children’s Network – the 500-strong group of children, young people, parents and carers who are helping develop the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital. This will be the first ever children’s hospital for the East of England.
Gemma will receive her prize – a gaming PC and art tool worth over £800 - on Monday 17 May at 9.30am in the grounds of her school, St Bede’s Inter-Church School, Birdwood Road, Cambridge.
The Cambridge Children’s Hospital project team and Cambs Youth Panel came together to offer secondary school students across the region the chance to win this state-of-the-art gaming PC. It was built and donated by Cambs Youth Panel (opens in a new tab).
Open to years 7-11, the young people were challenged to design a logo for the Cambridge Children’s Network – the children, young people, families and carers who will help develop the new hospital, from how it looks to the care it provides. Both the shortlisting and the judging was done completely anonymously, with no information other than the child’s school year group. Judges picked their favourites from four groups – Year 7, 8,9 and 10 and 11 combined. The one with the most votes won the prize.
Gemma says she entered the competition after seeing her brother designing his own logo.
She said: “I had a weird inspiration. I walked into my brother’s room and saw a stickman on a piece of paper that was slanted, so it made me think of curved stickmen. I then thought about the Ying and Yang symbol. The concept of my logo is two children holding the network in their hands, to say this is the Cambridge Children’s Network.
I felt amazing when I got the news. I was speechless. I never thought that I was going to win. I only thought I was going to do it for fun. Right now, I feel very proud of myself and happy that I won.
Gemma
There were also three runners up who have received art vouchers. Alex White, Project Director for Cambridge Children’s Hospital, said he was delighted that so many young people had been inspired to design a logo for Cambridge Children’s Network, which is such an important part of the overall project.
“This Network of children, young people, families and carers are sharing with us their lived experience of mental and physical healthcare. Their input and ideas are key to us getting the hospital right. They deserve a fabulous logo – and that’s exactly what they’ve got, thanks to Gemma’s wonderful entry. It is simple, but effective, illustrating the bringing together of people, but also the bringing together of mental and physical health, which is our vision for Cambridge Children’s.”
Phil Priestley from Cambs Youth Panel is thrilled they were able to offer a prize of real value to support the Cambridge Children’s Hospital project.
“This is a fantastic prize for a fantastic entry. I’m so glad I wasn’t a judge because it was a really tough decision to make! Gemma has given us such a fantastic offer. Not only has she paid close attention to the design brief and the You Tube information video by Molly at Cambs Youth Panel, Gemma has translated it in a creative way that I really didn’t anticipate at all.”
Alistair Day, head teacher of St Bede’s Inter-Church School, said: “It was a wonderful idea to involve students in the design of the logo for this excellent organisation. Gemma’s design was produced during the last lockdown, whilst learning took place remotely and provided an opportunity to engage with a real-life project. Well done to Gemma for producing such a creative design.”