EIGHT lucky children tucked into Real Easter Eggs this year after winning our Diocese’s creative Easter competition.

Competition winners (top, l to r): Henry Bender, Jessica Comley and Tom Bonnar (below, l to r): Freddie North, Abigail Tuttle and Dexter Hammersley

We asked children and young people from parishes and schools across our diocese to draw a picture or write 100 words to describe what Easter means. There were two categories: under 11s and 11 to 18 year olds.

Dozens of entries were received by e-mail and post and judges found it difficult to choose the eight winners.

They were: Freddie North, eight, from Greatham and Dexter Hammersley, nine, from Bordon (pictures from children aged under 11), Henry Bender, 10, from Havant and Tom Bonnar, 10, from Lee-on-the-Solent (words by children aged under 11).

And Ava Spencer, 11, a pupil at St Alban’s Primary School in West Leigh and Jessica Comley, 11, from Hambledon (pictures from children aged 11-18), Lily Gray, 11, from Emsworth and Abigail Tuttle, 11, from Hayling Island (words by children aged 11-18).

Dexter was so excited when he found out he had won that he was literally running around his house.

“I really didn’t think I would win so when I found out I ran around my house like mad,” he said.

“I really enjoy drawing. I wasn’t sure what to draw at first, the cross or the tomb. The rest of my friends were drawing the cross. I thought the tomb would be more of a challenge and I like a challenge so I thought I would try that.”

Freddie’s favourite subject is art, so it wasn’t difficult for him to choose which category he wanted to enter.

“I had some new paints and all of the colours had run out apart from the orange which I used for the background and the black which I used for the cross,” he said.

“I wanted to make my picture stand out more so I used black tape for the outside.”

Henry wanted to share the true meaning of Easter with people who thought it was just about chocolate eggs.

“I don’t go to church that often but I wanted to tell people that I do like Jesus even though I don’t go to church that much,” he said.

“Easter isn’t just about chocolate. It is about what our Saviour did. He died for us because he loves us and then came back to life again.”

Abigail wanted to include the events of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday in her story.

“I found it quite difficult trying to get everything in because the Easter story is quite long,” she said.

“I wanted people to know how the crowd had changed. On Palm Sunday, the crowds were praising and bowing down to Jesus, but just a few days later he was crucified. It is quite a big change. I was quite a few words over the limit to start off with so I had to cut some out.

“When I found out I had won I was really surprised because I didn’t think I would.”

The winners were presented with their Real Easter Eggs – the only Easter egg that explains the Christian story on the box – at Portsmouth Cathedral by Canon David Isaac, the head of mission and discipleship in our diocese.

To see all the winning photos and pieces of writing, click here.