October 31st, 2020

COMPETITION: What Makes You Smile?

The winners have been announced - you can see them here

We received so many wonderful entries - here is just a small selection:


We're running a competition in conjunction with Tes as part of our What Makes You Smile? project.

All you have to do is make a picture of what makes you smile. You can use any art materials you like - pencils, crayons, paints, coloured pencils, felt tips, or you could even make a collage with coloured papers. If you need some inspiration, look at the world around you, or you can look at the illustrations that our artists have created.


The winner from each age category will receive:

  • a selection of top quality art materials worth £150 to inspire a budding artist
  • a copy of Tell Me A Picture by Quentin Blake
  • Beautiful picture books worth £200 for their school library.

The winning entries will be displayed on The Children’s Bookshow website and social media and on the Tes website.

Two runners up for each category will each win a copy of Tell Me A Picture by Quentin Blake.

Age categories:

tes logo

Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2


**Our judge** is the wonderful children’s books writer and illustrator Jessica Souhami. Jessica used to tell stories with puppets, but then decided to create picture books instead. Her illustrations are made of collages of brightly coloured paper and brilliantly bring to life some of the stories that people have been telling one another for hundreds of years.

Jessica's books always make us smile!

She is published by Frances Lincoln and Otter-Barry Books.


How to Enter:

You must be resident in the UK be aged between 5 and 11 years old:

You must include the following information with your entry:

Your name
Your age
The name and address of your school
Your Key Stage

Email an electronic version (either a scan or photo) to thechildrensbookshow@gmail.com

and send the hard copy to What Makes You Smile c/o The Children’s Bookshow, 9A Peploe Road, London NW6 6EB

(Teachers, if you are emailing entries from your class, please label each file with the child’s name, Key Stage and age.)

The closing date of the competition is 23rd October 2020 and entries received after this date will not be accepted. Winners will be announced on 1st December 2020.

Terms & Conditions
Instructions form part of the rules. The winning entry is the one judged to be the best and the judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

'What Makes You Smile?' Children's Work Gallery

See more

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