Wednesday 24 Oct 2018
TfL Press Release - Winners of TfL and Clays Children’s Book Competition
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- Competition asked children to draw and write about how women at TfL keep London moving
- Part of the Mayor’s #BehindEveryCity campaign
- Winning drawings and stories turned into a limited edition book
Transport for London (TfL) has chosen the winners of its children’s book competition which tells the stories of women in transport.
The competition, organised in partnership with British book printing institution Clays, is part of the Mayor of London’s #BehindEveryGreatCity, marking the centenary of the first women in the UK winning the right to vote.
Winners Tess Kearney, now aged 8, Ibraheem Saleemi, now aged 9, and Isra Sulevani, now aged 14, have had their stories and images turned into a limited edition book, ‘Keeping London Moving’, with the winning drawing featured on the front page. They also got to take part in a behind the scenes tour of TfL, discovering the different job roles there are in the transport industry.
The competition, which included three different age categories, asked children to use their imaginations to draw a picture or write a story about how women at TfL keep London moving. There were six hundred entries to the competition from children all over London, which depicted women working in the transport industry in a number of roles, from app designers to civil engineers.
Lauren Sager Weinstein, Chief Data Officer at TfL and one of The Female Lead’s 20 role models in Data & Technology, said: “The imagination that all of the children showed in their creations, along with their passion and enthusiasm, indicates the bright futures they have ahead of them and only emphasises why gender should never be a barrier to achieving your aspirations. It’s thrilling to see the creativity in these entries from talented young Londoners. Well done to Tess, Ibraheem and Isra for winning, along with all of the runners-up, as they faced some tough competition.”
Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said: “It is great to see this fantastic collection of stories and drawings from children across the city, capturing the crucial role women play in keeping London moving. Telling the stories of engineers, drivers and designers, this book will encourage young Londoners to explore the opportunities available to them in our city, and ensure they know that no one should be held back by their gender.”
After much deliberation, the winning entries were chosen by the judging panel - formed of acclaimed authors, including Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Lauren Child MBE, ‘How to Train your Dragon’ author Cressida Cowell, and ‘Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World’ writer, Kate Pankhurst, as well as representatives from TfL and Clays.
The Winners
- Tess Kearney from Wandsworth illustrated what it would be like to be a crane operator (5-7 Drawing Category). She said: “I was very happy to hear that my picture was chosen to be used in the book. I enjoyed entering the competition because I like drawing and I think that women can do anything if they try. I’d also like to drive a crane!”
- Ibraheem Saleemi from Redbridge wrote about a Dial-A-Ride driver going the extra mile to ensure her customer wasn’t scared as she transported her on Halloween (7-11 Writing Category). He said: “I can't believe I won, I'll tell you that! I'm really surprised. I'm really happy as well though."
- Isra Sulevani from Hillingdon wrote about the women who worked at Maida Vale Tube station, the first to be fully staffed by women, and the barriers they had to overcome (11-14 Writing Category). She said: “I would just like to thank TfL for this fantastic opportunity to publish my short story! I discovered so much about the role of women in transport not only in today's society, but also in the past, and this competition inspired me to spread the word about the amazing role they have in transport through literature! When I discovered that my short story was going to be published, I felt extremely lucky and excited. It’s a fantastic chance as well to tour the Lost Property Office and learn how our book was made!”
Vicky Ellis, Sales Director at Clays, said: “It was great to be a part of this competition encouraging creative writing and literacy within children – they are the next generation of readers and writers. The stories were fantastic and congratulations to the winners – perhaps we will be printing your books in the future!”
Kate Pankhurst said: “It was such a brilliant opportunity to encourage some really talented young authors and illustrators. I really enjoyed reviewing all the entries and was hugely impressed by the novel, sometimes funny and thought-provoking way children had approached the competition's theme. I look forward to seeing what our winners, Tess, Ibraheem and Isra, create next.”
Cressida Cowell said: “Children are the most creative thinkers because they don’t know the rules yet, and this was clearly demonstrated in the calibre of entries to this competition. Congratulations to the three winners, Tess, Ibraheem and Isra, whose entries really were a celebration of the #BehindEveryCity theme, and showed real ability and imaginative flair. I would encourage them, along with all children who entered, to carry on writing, and drawing – the creative industries make £92 billion a year for the UK, and we need talented, enthusiastic children like them to be our authors and illustrators of the future.”
Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Lauren Child said: “As well as encouraging children to draw and write, this competition has been a great opportunity to break down stereotypes. Well done to the all of the winners, who really showed in their stories and drawings how women can be brave, accomplished heroes and not just the side-kick. It was really difficult choosing between all of the fantastic entries.”
The Mayor of London’s #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign aims to bring Londoners together to celebrate how women of all backgrounds make London the great city it is, and to take new steps to tackle gender inequality in the capital.
The competition is part of a wider drive in the transport industry to encourage more women to consider a career in transport and more young people into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Currently, around 23 per cent of TfL’s workforce is female and only nine per cent of engineers are women. By creating a more diverse workforce that is representative of the city that it serves, TfL will encourage further creativity and innovation, which will lead to new ideas and ways of improving customers’ journeys.
Contact Information
TfL Press Office
Transport for London
0343 222 4141
pressoffice@tfl.gov.uk
Notes to editors
The full list of winners and runners-up, who get to see their drawings and stories turned into a limited edition book, is as follows:
5-7 Drawing Category:
- Winner: Tess Kearney, now aged 8 from Wandsworth
- Runner-up: Elsa Chaudhary, now aged 6 from Haringey
- Runner-up: Louise Dickson, now aged 7 from Islington
- Runner-up: Joel Joseph-Edwards, now aged 7 from Harrow
- Runner-up: Elodie Lightfoot, now aged 7 from Hounslow
- Runner-up: Aaria Prashar, now aged 7 from Richmond Upon Thames
- Runner-up: Lily Ryder, now aged 7 from Merton
7-11 Writing Category:
- Winner: Ibraheem Saleemi, now aged 9 from Redbridge
- Runner-up: Riya Aude Barbier-Ramaiah, now aged 8 from Camden
- Runner-up: Mimi Bowden, now aged 11 from Richmond Upon Thames
- Runner-up: Annabel Caine, now aged 8 from Southwark
- Runner-up: Sakina Hussain, now aged 9 from Croydon
- Runner-up: Sophie Walshe, now aged 10 from Wandsworth
- Runner-up: Kitty Wright, now aged 8 from Wandsworth
11-14 Writing Category:
- Winner: Isra Sulevani, now aged 14 from Hillingdon
- Runner-up: Oliver Dixon, now aged 11 from Croydon
- Runner-up: Elizabeth Joseph, now aged 11 from Redbridge
- Runner-up: Louisa Lonergan, now aged 12 from Wandsworth
- Runner-up: Thomas Norrington, now aged 11 from Harrow
- Runner-up: Hanna Woolford, now aged 11 from Harrow
The competition was open to children either resident or attending school within the Greater London area in the following age categories:
- Children between 5-7 years old were asked to design an image.
- Children between 7-11 years old were asked to write a story between 100-200 words.
- Children between 11-14 years old were asked to write a story under 300 words.
- For more images, please visit https://flic.kr/s/aHskL6cELq
- Please contact the TfL Press Office for stock footage of the book being made.
- Clays are a monochrome book printer based in Suffolk, UK printing around 150 million books a year. The company was founded by Richard Clay in 1827, and after World War 1, Clays began to focus on book printing and the factory has since been the birth place to many of the world’s most famous novels. They employ over 600 people in numerous roles, running apprenticeships to encourage young people into the industry. Clays are now owned by Elcograf S.p.A.
- Lauren Child is a multi-award-winning, bestselling writer and artist. She is the creator of many much-loved characters, including Clarice Bean, Ruby Redfort and Charlie and Lola. Her first two books were published in 1999 – I Want a Pet and Clarice Bean, That’s Me, and she won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2000 for I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, the first of her Charlie and Lola picture books. Lauren published her first Clarice Bean novel in 2002 – Utterly Me, Clarice Bean. The Clarice Bean series has sold over 6 million copies worldwide. In October 2005, the BBC launched a 78-part animated series of Charlie and Lola. The series has won four BAFTAS and is aired in more than 34 countries. In 2008 Lauren launched UNESCO’s ‘My Life is a Story’ Campaign for UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need and was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2008. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE for Services to Literature. She was announced as the 10th Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate in 2017. Lauren is an international ambassador for the excellence of UK illustration: she’s been at the forefront of innovation for 15 years and has raised the profile of illustration as a sophisticated art form for all ages. She works with mixed media, pioneered text as an integral part of illustration and collaborates with artists across different fields. She is a trustee of the recently-formed House of Illustration. Lauren is also a passionate advocate for visual literacy and the importance of quality picture books for children. The latest Charlie and Lola book, A Dog with Nice Ears, was published in paperback Autumn 2018. Hubert Horatio: How to Raise Your Grown-Ups (Harper Collins) the first in a new series, was released in October 2018. Lauren has illustrated a gift edition of Mary Poppins (Harper Collins) which will be published on November 4th, 2018.
- Cressida Cowell is the author and the illustrator of the bestselling How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series, and the author of the Emily Brown picture books, illustrated by Neal Layton. How to Train Your Dragon has sold over 8 million books worldwide in 38 languages. It is also an award-winning DreamWorks film series, and a TV series shown on Netflix and CBBC. The first book in Cressida's new series, The Wizards of Once (also signed by DreamWorks), is a number one bestseller. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency, a Trustee of World Book Day and a founder patron of the Children's Media Foundation. She has won numerous prizes, including the Gold Award in the Nestle Children's Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award, the 2017 Ruth Rendell Award for Championing Literacy, the Hay Festival Medal for Fiction, and Philosophy Now magazine's 2015 Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity. She grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland and she now lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and a dog called Pigeon.
- Kate Pankhurst illustrates and writes from her studio in Leeds with her spotty dog, Olive. She loves a good story, the funnier the better and gets her best ideas by doodling in her sketchbook; because even quick wonky drawings can spark ideas for amazing plots. As a child, Kate spent most of her time drawing silly characters and thinking up funny things for them to do, she feels very lucky to now do this as her job.
About #BehindEveryGreatCity
- Sadiq Khan has launched the #BehindEveryGreatCity gender equality campaign to champion the fact that it is the achievements and contributions of women, from all walks of life, which make cities like London great. It coincides with the 100 year anniversary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women the vote, and was introduced thanks to the campaigning of suffragists and suffragettes. The Mayor will use the centenary to work with London’s many leading sectors – from culture, sport, education and business, to politics and public life – to support the continuing success of women and to push for greater gender equality for women from all backgrounds across the city. To find out more, visit www.london.gov.uk/behindeverygreatcity
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