Stamp contest winner takes some licking

Like most 10 year olds, Wellsford School student Dannielle Aldworth will be looking forward to Christmas.

But this year, Dannielle has even more reason to eagerly anticipate the arrival of the first Christmas card – because it could be bearing a stamp designed by her.

Dannielle was one of more than 14,000 children, aged between five and 12, who entered NZ Post’s 2009 Design a Stamp competition. Her colourful design of a native woodpigeon wearing a Christmas hat, won the Years 4-6 section, netting Dannielle a $1000 cheque, plus a further $3000 for her school.

Her image, along with two others designed by children in the younger and older age groups, will form part of a six-part stamp series, alongside three traditional Christmas images on 50c, $2 and $2.50 stamps.

A much-loved book on native birds gave Dannielle the inspiration for her design.
As part of her prize, she was flown to Christchurch to appear on the children’s TV show, “What Now!”, whose presenter Charlie Panapa was one of the competition judges.

“That was a cool experience,” said Dannielle, who had a hard job of keeping her win a secret from school friends for three weeks before it was made public.

So far, Dannielle’s prize money is sitting safely in her newly-opened bank account, but she does plan a bit of a treat for the family.

Stamp contest winner Dannielle Aldworth loves colouring.