20/5/2009 - Cumbrian student has designs on the ballot box : Cumbria County Council

A Cumbrian teenager will have the chance to see 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, will visit Cumbria County Council's design, advertising and print studio 3C this Friday (May 22) to see the design he created for a school project turned 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 receives 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 the inspiration for his design came from the occasions he's waited outside the polling station where his mum and dad vote:

"The idea I had is that voting should mean lots of people gathered together. I wanted to get over the message that people who don't vote are missing out - so if they see all the people lined up at the ballot box, they might think they should join them and vote too. I'm not a good artist, so I was really pleased when I won."

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.