BUDDING artists from primary schools across Wirral are being invited to create a special range of charity Christmas cards.

Children aged five to 11-years-old, are invited to put their artistic skills to the test and submit their festive card designs.

The top 12 designs will be sold in Home Bargains stores for Christmas 2014, with all profits going towards Alder Hey Children's Charity.

Joe Morris, the firm's operations director, said: "Following the success of last year's design competition, we wanted to give children the opportunity to once again see their creations sold in our stores.

"We were blown away by the number of excellent entries we received in 2012 and thought that it would be fantastic to involve Merseyside's schools in the campaign to fundraise for children cared for by Alder Hey.

"The children’s hospital is the busiest in the UK, so we’d really like to thank all of our customers for their support and hope that our collective efforts will continue to make a genuine difference to children in Alder Hey’s care."

The charity Christmas cards have been sold in Home Bargains stores for the past six years and the retailers hopes that the 2013 winning designs – which are now available to purchase in-store – will raise in excess of £15,000 for the charity.

The competition is open to primary schools across Merseyside.  Entry forms can be downloaded from www.homebargainscompetitions.co.uk

The closing date for entries is Friday 31 January 2014.