Children's pandemic stamps given Royal approval

Designs by eight children have been chosen for a new set of "Covid heroes" stamps, following a competition that attracted more than 600,000 entries.

The Royal Mail asked budding young artists to come up with designs on a pandemic theme.

The drawings feature bus and delivery drivers, NHS workers, vaccine scientists and food bank volunteers.

The winners, from across the UK, were congratulated by the Prince of Wales at a special reception.

The competition, launched last spring, attracted an "unprecedented... and a world record-breaking 606,049 entries", the Royal Mail said.

Judges, including retired teachers, selected 120 regional finalists.

A panel, including the prime minister and former BBC Playschool and Playaway presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin, then picked 24 regional winners.

The final eight winning designs were personally selected by Prince Charles, with the finished stamps approved by the Queen.

Prince Charles met some of the winners at a reception at Clarence House in London on Thursday

The winners

• Logan Pearson, 11, from Bury CofE High School, Greater Manchester - he wanted to portray the "science behind the scenes" and the development of the Covid tests and vaccines

• Isabella Grover, seven, from Creswick Primary School in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire - her drawing is based on a food delivery driver, who her family said kept on helping others despite his own personal losses

• Shachow Ali, 11, from Flint High School in Flint, Wales - his design, featuring Captain Sir Tom Moore, was inspired by the veteran's fundraising for NHS charities

• Ishan Bains, seven, of Abbey CofE Infant School in Nuneaton, Warwickshire - his inspiration was seeing paramedics called many times over the last year for his late grandmother, but every time she was ill, they took her away and brought her back when she was better

• Alfie Craddock, 12, from The Hereford Academy in Herefordshire - his drawing was inspired by world issues such as LGBTQ, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the NHS, as his mother is an NHS worker

• Jessica Roberts, 14, from Flint High School in Flint, Wales - her design was inspired by the key workers who kept the country going throughout the pandemic

• Raphael Valle Martin, 14, from Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys in Kent - his stamp design, featuring an NHS cleaner, was to honour people who fulfilled important supporting roles

• Connie Stuart, 14, from Litcham School in Norfolk - she was inspired by the work of the NHS during the pandemic

Simon Thompson, Royal Mail's chief executive, said: "As we approach the second anniversary of the first lockdown, it's fitting that the nation's children have taken the lead in celebrating the heroes of the pandemic.

"They have captured the resilience and determination of the British people in eight drawings."