Children and young people across Redbridge got creative as part of a competition expressing their life under coronavirus lockdown.
More than 80 entries were received in the competition What I Have Learned From Lockdown, held by Redbridge Council, which was open to anyone from five to 18 years old who lives in the borough.
The winning entries spanned multiple media, including drawings, poems, music and found art.
The top prize was shared between Nishka Mithare, nine, from Avanti Court Primary and Arjun Sudhakar, 12, from Mayfield High School.
Nishka’s drawing, The Lockdown Human Cage, shows a girl sitting in front of a computer with wildlife surrounding her.
Arjun’s drawing showed the positive benefits of being in lockdown, such as trying new things, eating together as a family, doing yoga and helping mum with cooking.
Arunudoy De, a Year 2 pupil at Seven Kings Primary, won second prize for his clever poem called Runway of Lockdown.
In the poem he expresses the strange new world and ends it with: “Three months have passed and I’m losing my cool and I’m eagerly waiting to go back to school.”
Nyla Chowdhury, in Year 8 at Woodford County School, also took home a second prize for her artwork called Self-care.
In one part entitled Scars she put flowers coming out of plaster “to represent that even though you have wounds, something beautiful can come out of it as they are still a part of you”.
In the second part, called Burnt Out, she wanted to express a a common problem of people exhausting themselves during the pandemic.
Third prize was shared by Adithi Madur, nine, from Cleveland Road Primary, and Kenny Elliott, 15 from Caterham High.
Kenny, who has autism, said the loss of a structured school day made lockdown extremely difficult.
He submitted a video where he played the theme song to the French film Amelie on the piano.
He said: “When I am feeling anxious, I play my piano and my anxiety seems to drift away.
“Playing the piano I think has really helped during this lockdown and as I continue I hope to improve.”
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