Competition Winners Carlotta Ecks and Ailsa Morrison with Brian Giles of Virgin Money and Arlene Stuart of Forth 1 Image Neil Hanna

Three designs have been chosen as winners of the Edinburgh International Festival Fireworks Concert Poster competition.

Ailsa Morrison
Ailsa Morrison

At the Virgin Money Lounge yesterday evening the three winners were announced and their designs unveiled.

The winners are :

Ailsa Morrison (12) from Edinburgh

Carlotta Ecks (8) from Dunbar

Six pupils between the ages of 5 and 8 from the Language and Communications Class at St Cuthbert’s RC Primary School Edinburgh.

All three poster designs will be exhibited across the city in the run up to the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert on 29 August 2016.

Carlotta Ecks
Carlotta Ecks

This year is the fifth year that Virgin Money have sponsored the event and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska will perform music inspired by Shakespeare. It is 400 years since William Shakespeare died and this will be yet another celebration of that. The music will include Prokofiev’s ballet music for Romeo and Juliet and the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story. All 400,000 fireworks are choreographed to go off in time to the live music lighting up the sky over the capital for the 250,000 or so who are expected to come and watch.

Language and Communication Class - collaboration
Language and Communication Class – collaboration

Brian Giles, Head of Communications at Virgin Money said: “The world famous Edinburgh international Festival and the Fireworks Concert are fantastic community events in the city of Edinburgh and Virgin Money is incredibly proud to sponsor both of them. We have supported the Fireworks Concert for the past five years and its popularity continues to grow, with an estimated 250,000 people now coming together to make it a truly special evening. Our congratulations go out to the winners of the poster competition – Ailsa, Carlotta, and everyone from St Cuthbert’s RC Primary School – for their fantastic designs, which will become a symbol of this year’s event.”

Roy McEwan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra said: “Many congratulations to everyone who took part in the poster competition, and well done to the winners! We look forward to seeing their posters across Edinburgh and welcoming the winners to the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert, which the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has performed throughout the event’s 34-year history. We are delighted with the continuing support of Virgin Money in their fifth year as event sponsors. They are a strong brand in Scottish corporate life providing an impressive level of engagement in Edinburgh’s cultural life.”

 Children from the LCC class at St Cuthbert's Primary School celebrate their win with a cake decorated with their design Photo ©Neil Hanna
Children from the LCC class at St Cuthbert’s Primary School celebrate their win with a cake decorated with their design Photo ©Neil Hanna

Fergus Linehan, Edinburgh International Festival Director said: “I’d like to thank Forth One for its involvement in this key Edinburgh event and its support of the Poster Competition. It’s great that so many children across Edinburgh and the Lothians have joined in by getting the glitter out and producing great designs for this year’s event posters. The Fireworks Concert is an incredibly popular event with Edinburgh residents and visitors and will once again provide an extraordinary finale to the city’s summer festival season. We are also delighted to be staging for a second year, the Edinburgh Schools Concert, which takes place in Princes St Gardens on the morning of the main event. Last year nearly 2,000 school children came along and had a fantastic time, so it’s great to be able to build that success. Events like these – and the Poster Competition – give many more young people the opportunity to play their part in this spectacular event”.

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.