Winners of face covering competition unveiled in Liverpool

The five winners of a Liverpool face covering competition have been unveiled.

Open Culture launched the competition on behalf of Public Health Liverpool and it attracted 113 entries. Originally, four winners were to be chosen, two from each of two age categories, but an additional winner was chosen in the age 14-17 category.

The judging panel was: Kiara Mohammed, a Liverpool multidisciplinary Muslim trans, gender-fluid artist; TEE, a spoken word and rap artist; and representatives from Public Health Liverpool and Open Culture. A group of young public health activists also gave feedback on the shortlist before the winners were selected. The activists have been working with Public Health Liverpool to give insight into their experience of the pandemic.

As well as having the designs made into limited-edition face coverings, the five winners have all also scooped £200 each (prizes funded by arts organisations).

The winners are:

Category ages 14-17

• Aubrey Sanchez – from Anfield. Bellerive FCJ Catholic College.
• Euan Lee – from Garston. Abbot’s Lea School.
• Nikoleta Pioro – from Norris Green. Holly Lodge Girls’ College.

Category ages 18-25

• Evie Warwick – from Wavertree. Liverpool John Moores University.
• Belita Edi – from Toxteth. City of Liverpool College.

Four thousand double-layered coverings have been produced by Cheshire-based English Fine Cottons and also have an anti-viral coating.

The face coverings will not only be distributed at the winners’ schools but will also be given out to young people via the council’s Children’s Services teams including looked-after children, the youth offending team and the city’s youth clubs.

Cllr Paul Brant, cabinet member for Public Health, said:

“As expected, the designs that were submitted to the competition were truly impressive and it was so hard to whittle down the entries that five instead of four winners were chosen.

“It’s great that young people took the competition to heart and saw it not only as a way of expressing their creativity but also understood that washable masks are a valuable way of reducing the waste that comes with using disposable masks.

“Wearing a face covering in public places is likely to be part of our lives for many months to come and it’s great that young people have embraced them and are setting this example for the older people in our community.”