22/5/2009 - Ben cashes in on democracy design : Cumbria County Council

A Cumbrian teenager has seen his school project turned into a new county council campaign encouraging people to vote in the forthcoming European and county council elections.

Ben Bancroft, a 13-year-old student at William Howard School in Brampton, visited Cumbria County Council's design, advertising and print studio 3C today(May 22) to help turn the design he created for a school project into a professional artwork for the campaign.

Ben was the winner of a county council-run competition which challenged pupils from four secondary schools around the county to come up with some original artwork which would encourage people to vote.

He topped the poll from over 200 entries from Kirkby Stephen Grammar, William Howard, Ullswater Community College and Park View School, Barrow and received a £100 prize. Entries were judged by a small panel chaired by the Chair of Cumbria County Council.

The Year 8 student, who lives at Scarrow Hill, Brampton, said:

"It was great to help turn my design into the campaign artwork which will be seen all around the county encouraging people to vote in the elections on June 4th. I'm really keen on graphic design and computers - I'll be spending my winnings on a new motherboard for my computer."

County Council elections take place every four years. The turnout at local and national elections has been falling steadily over several years. There are many reasons for this but the county council wants to reverse this trend because it is important that local people vote to elect a person to represent them on the council. The county council spends far more than any other council in Cumbria on local services such as roads, schools, caring for older people, waste disposal, libraries and the fire and rescue service, so it is crucial that as many Cumbrians as possible have a say in who their local councillor should be.