Benidorm awards 19 schoolchildren in the 17th Christmas Card Competition

Nearly twenty children from Benidorm, aged between 3 and 12, have won prizes in the 17th annual Christmas Card Contest, organised by the Education and Culture Departments of the Benidorm City Council. Thousands of preschool and primary school students from the city participated. Mayor Toni Pérez, along with councillors Maite Moreno and Jaime Jesús Pérez, heads of both departments, presented the awards this afternoon to the creators of the selected cards at a ceremony held in the City Hall's auditorium, which was attended by numerous students, family members, teachers, and members of the City Council.

In this edition, fourteen schools in Benidorm participated in the competition: the public schools Miguel Hernández, Serra Gelada, Ausiàs March, Leonor Canalejas, El Murtal, Gabriel Miró, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, La Cala, Mestre Gaspar López, Els Tolls, and Serra d’Aitana; the semi-private school Nuestra Señora de los Dolores; and the private schools Lope de Vega and Costa Blanca International College.

In the first phase, all these schools were responsible for holding the competition among their students and making an initial selection of the finalist postcards—twelve per participating school—to submit to the final phase. In this final phase, a jury selected by the Education and Culture departments chose the winning entries, whose authors received a prize of educational and recreational materials, as well as having their drawings printed as postcards to send Christmas greetings.

Likewise, and as is tradition in Benidorm City Hall since the competition began, all the winning postcards will be used by the City Council and its members to send their Christmas greetings once again this year.

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, congratulated all the participants, the winners, and the schools for “making this heartwarming competition possible once again” and extended his congratulations “to the families for their support and encouragement to participate” and to the Parents' Federation “for their ongoing collaboration with the City Council.” Pérez concluded by wishing students and their families “a very Merry Christmas.”

Award winners

Regarding the children who received awards, in the Early Childhood Education category, the first prize went to Beltrán Gurillo Casamayor, from Lope De Vega International School; the second prize to Melannia Stepanova, from Serra Gelada Primary School; and the third prize to Iker Salazar Huamani, from Els Tolls Primary School. In addition, Yaira Romero Pichardo and Samuel Ortiz Moreno, students from  Serra d’Aitana Primary School and Gabriel Miró Primary School, respectively, received honourable mentions.

In the first cycle of Primary Education, the students awarded first, second, and third prizes were Jaia González, from La Cala Primary School; Alejandro Oviedo Romero, from Ausiàs March Primary School; and Lina El Yassini, from Serra Gelada Primary School, respectively. There were also three honourable mentions: one for César Martín Sampedro, from Mestre Gaspar López Primary School; Opeyemi John Shoyode Ajala, from Ausiàs March; and Lucía Calvo Rodríguez, also a student at Ausiàs March.

As for the students in the second cycle of Primary Education, the winners, in this order, were Ana Pampliega Moreno, from the private school Nuestra Señora de los Dolores; Manuel Albertos Higueras, a student at the same school; and Marina Velasco Meléndez, from CEIP El Murtal. Honourable mentions went to Héctor Sarrión Navarro and Iskander Sultanov, from CEIP El Murtal and Vasco Núñez De Balboa, respectively.

In the third cycle of Primary Education, the first-place winner was Enma Sanz Hernández, from the private school Costa Blanca International College; second place went to Reaan Muhammad, from CEIP Leonor Canalejas; and third place was awarded to Muchen Zhou, from CEIP Miguel Hernández.