CO-Gas Safety Schools Poster Competition 2011/12 is now OPEN
(2010/11 Competition is now closed)

The flyer and other resources has been updated to cover not only North and South England but also Scotland.

Entry for pupils aged 11/12 is free. There are great cash prizes of £300 for each winning pupil and £500 for the school plus an all reasonable expenses paid day out at the Houses of Parliament usually in the last week of January for the pupil, teacher, parents and a reasonable number of siblings.

There are two areas in England, so there will be two winners in England, one in the North and one in the South of England. The competition has now been extended to Scotland due to the kind sponsorship of Scotland Gas Networks so we are hoping there will be a winner in Scotland provided there are enough entries.

Closing date is the 31st July each year. So you have some time to enter the 2011/12 competition but there is no time like the present and our first entries last year were received in October. This is extremely helpful.

The Schools Poster Competition is dedicated to the memory of Edward Tomlinson, who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the Lebanon in 2006. Our particular thanks to Heather Tomlinson, Ed’s Mother, who kindly ran a pilot project of this competition for us which was invaluable. A photo of Ed can be found at the bottom of this page.

See how many sources of CO you can find in this picture. See Answers

The aim of this poster competition is to raise awareness of the silent killer, carbon monoxide poisoning and how to prevent it and other fuel toxins, thereby save lives and preserve health. The poster competition is for one year group which is usually the last year of state primary school (Year 6, i.e. Aged 10-11).

However, the competition can be entered by any child in that year group so children who are, for example, home educated can enter but need to nominate an education establishment or authority to receive the 'school' prize. Other groups, such as youth or art groups can also enter. See Rules for details and do contact us if needed.

Please click on the picture above to see a film of a talk to a primary school about carbon monoxide and the charity schools poster competition. Paul Overton, director of CO-Gas Safety and stepfather of Katie Overton gave a talk to Craneswater Junior School in November 2008. Katie died of CO aged 11 in 2003 while she was attending this school.

Resources for the 2011/12 Competition:

Please note that the updated versions may not yet have been uploaded August 2011.

• Flyer - Brief details of 2011/12 Schools Poster Competition
  Download (0.66MB, PDF)
  
  
• Quote from Ed Balls MP, then Secretary of State for Children, Schools & Families after the prize giving event at the House of Commons for the 2007-08 competition. Also quote for the 2008/09 prize giving.
  Download (<0.1MB, Word)
  
  
• PowerPoint Presentation version of the CO-Gas Safety Booklet
  This will make it easy for anyone to give a talk. Some of the slides have notes added to assist you.
  Download: High Res (4MB, PPT) | NB. You’ll need PowerPoint to view this file, available to download free from here.
  
  
• CO-Gas Online Booklet
  Download (5MB, Word)

• Tips for Designing your poster
  Download (<0.1MB, Word)
  
  
• Rules
  Download (<0.2MB, Word)
  
  
• Flyer - 'Celebrating Eddie'
  Download: High Res, <0.1MB, PDF)

Some people with Dial-up Internet Access might have trouble downloading these files. If so, please ask your school to do it for you.

Illustrated materials about carbon monoxide written especially for the competitions as well as the competition rules are available by following the link above. The prizes are £300 for students and £500 for each winning school. There are two regions in England, North and South England (see rules)and one for Scotland so there will be three winning students and three winning schools. Winners will be presented with prizes at an event, almost certainly at the Houses of Parliament during late January 2013. All reasonable expenses will be paid for students, their families (usually four people), and teachers on production of receipts sent to: "Lorein, Common Lane, Claygate, Surrey KT10 0HY".

It is recommended that all students and teachers print out the material available as well as the rules and read them thoroughly before entering. See also the helpful tips for designing your poster drafted by the artist John O'Leary.

The Carbon Monoxide Gas Safety charity encourages students and teachers to take the materials about carbon monoxide home to their families.

Please can teachers make sure to photograph or scan entries and send them, ideally in JPEG formula, by email to postercompetition@co-gassafety.co.uk. Queries to office@co-gassafety.co.uk.

Copyright issues

Please note that CO-Gas Safety has copyright to the posters so please put '© Copyright CO-Gas Safety' and 'Reproduced by kind permission of CO-Gas Safety' on any reproduction you might put in an ordinary article in the newspaper. For anything further, please seek our permission by emailing office@co-gassafety.co.uk or telephoning 01372 466135 or Mob. 07803 088688 if it is urgent.)
Press Release: Download (<0.1MB, Word)

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NEWS

Winners of the 2010/11 Competition at the prize giving at the House of Lords, January 2012
North of England Winner
Winner: Francesca Pitfield   Age at entry: 11 School: Sheffield High School, Tel. 0114 266 1435 Teacher: Sarah Groombridge MP Paul Blomfield MP Lab. for the School Nick Clegg MP, Lib. Dem. Deputy Prime Minister for the residential address of the winner	Click here to view
South of England Winner
Winner: Isobel Porter Age at entry: 11 School: William Ransom Primary School, Tel. 01462 624 777 Teacher: Steve Mills MP for the school and residential address of the winner – Mr. Peter Lilley Con.	Click here to view
Runner Up
Runner up: Daryoush Shirazi. Age at entry: 10. School: Sussex House School. Teacher: Entered on his own account.	Click here to view
A Big Thank you to the Sponsors of our Competition – The Department of Health We have funding from the DoH until 2013 for the competition. Also thank you to those who have generously given to us. Scotia Gas Networks, who are sponsoring the competition for Scotland and also paying for our press packs CoGDEM, who are providing some CO alarms Kane International – who is paying for the charity tea at the House of Lords.

Winners of the 2009/10 Competition at the prize giving at the House of Lords, January 2011
North of England Winner
Winner: Charlotte Mason Charlotte Mason's winning poster. Photograph of Paul Blomfield MP and winner of the North of England, Charlotte Mason of Sheffield High School, Junior department, with her winning design.	Click here to view
South of England Winner
Winner: Katy Hatch Katy Hatch's winning poster. Photograph of Jonathan Kane, Director of CO-Gas Safety and Kane International, winner of the South of England, Katy Hatch, Head Teacher Mrs Olivia Paton of St Patrick's Catholic Primary school  and presenting the prizes, previous winner, Wulstan Nixon.	Click here to view
Winners of the 2008/09 Competition
North of England Winner (10-11)
Winner: Lily Bolsover Sheffield High School Junior Department. Teacher: Sarah Groombridge. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to enter your class and for attending our prize giving at the House of Lords.	Click here to view
South of England Winner (Ages 10-11)
Winner: Scarlett Pugsley Courthouse Junior School, Maidenhead. Teacher: Trician Stevenson Thank you for taking the time and touble to enter your class and for attending our prizegiving event event at the House of Lords.	Click here to view
Theresa May MP with Scarlett Pugsley Member of Parliament for Maidenhead Now also Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities
Winners of the Pilot Project As it was our 15th anniversary we thought it was the perfect time to present prizes to those who had done really well in our pilot project brilliantly run by Heather Tomlinson, teacher and mother of Edward Tomlinson, who died of CO poisoning.
Winner: Wulstan Nixon Teacher: Richard Tooby School: Abberley Hall	Click here to view
Winners: Charlotte Abraham & Lucy Evans Teacher: Robert Hall School: Hereford Cathedral Junior School	Click here to view Click here to view
Photo of the winners with some of our sponsors
Photo of Stephanie Trotter with Heather and Howard Tomlinson who are presenting CO-Gas Safety with a cheque for £1,000.

A big THANK YOU to our 2007/08 sponsors - Please click here for details

Winners of the 2007/08 Competition
North of England Winners
North Ages 10-11 Winner - Tayla Shelley (girl) Aged 10 Sheffield High School Junior Department Teacher Sarah Groombridge. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to enter your class. Attending today Head Mrs. Anne Jones. Thank you for attending	Click here to view	Click here to view
North Ages 16-17 Winner - Harmanpreet Ghuman (girl) Aged 17 Bishop Milner Catholic School. Entered on her own behalf - very well done	Click here to view	Click here to view
South of England Winners
South Ages 10-11 Winner - Jessica Eales (girl) Aged 11 Lymington Junior School Teacher Ben Willis. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to enter your class.	Click here to view	Click here to view
South Ages 16-17 Winner - Alexandra Greengrass (girl) Aged 16 Southend High School for Boys Teacher Ray Bass. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to enter your class.	Click here to view	Click here to view

A big THANK YOU to our 2007/08 sponsors - Please click here for details

Ed Tomlinson after a successful game of rugby in an Old Boys match.

The Schools Poster Competition is dedicated to the memory of Edward Tomlinson, who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the Lebanon. Our particular thanks to Heather Tomlinson, Ed’s Mother, who kindly ran a pilot project of this competition for us.