A popular competition is offering budding artists the chance to design a town's Christmas card.

Loughton Town Council have today (September 16) launched their seasonal contest, which asks residents to design an original drawing, photograph, picture, poem or script for the town's official Christmas card.

The overall winning design will be chosen for the card and four others will be awarded with a £25 gift card.

The competition consists of four different entry categories depending on age; infant, junior, secondary students and adults.

The challenge is to create an original, Christmas themed card of A5 size in either portrait or landscape orientation.

The closing date for the contest is November 11 and an exhibition of the winning designs alongside a selection of the best entries will be displayed in Loughton and Debden libraries during December and January.

You can enter your submission, here.