2024 Christmas Card Competition!

📢 Calling all artists - Santa’s deliveries are at risk from space debris! 🎅

We’re looking for Christmas card designs illustrating the need to #KeepSpaceTidy, so that Santa and the satellites we rely on stay safe. 🛰️ 🎅🛷

Art is a vital tool for communicating science, and we are looking for eye-catching and impactful Christmas card designs which illustrate the importance of space sustainability and the need to #KeepSpaceTidy, so that Santa and all the satellites we rely on stay safe.  This will be sent online to all our global stakeholders!

Did you know:

• There are over 10,000 functioning satellites in orbit around the Earth, and we are launching thousands more every year.
• These satellites provide critical services we all rely on every day, from communication and maps on our smartphones to weather forecasts and online banking, and data crucial to vital activities such as climate monitoring, scientific research, emergency services and disaster relief.
• The orbits we use for these satellites are becoming congested with space debris including defunct satellites which got damaged, broke down or ran out of fuel, discarded rocket stages and other objects which are all travelling at orbital velocities of ~8km/s, ~10 times the speed of a bullet!  
• The satellites we rely on are at risk from collisions with space debris, which could be catastrophic for the space infrastructure we rely on.

The UK Space Agency promotes the sustainable use of space through a wide range of initiatives, both within the UK and through the European Space Agency.  For more information visit our website and watch a video about our work. 

We are looking for designs for a Christmas card to help us communicate the scale and urgency of this problem and what we are doing about it, to encourage people to behave responsibly and work together to protect our space environment and #KeepSpaceTidy, and to ensure our use of space is sustainable for future generations.

How to Enter:

1. Design a Christmas card which helps us communicate the problem of space debris and the work we are doing to tackle it.   This could be drawn, painted, crafted, or designed digitally.
2. Post your design on social media, using the hashtag #KeepSpaceTidy, along with a paragraph about why space sustainability is important.
3. Submit a high-quality version of your image, along with your information, via our online form.

The competition closes on 15 December 2024.  Entries will be divided into 4 age categories: 0-6, 7-12, 13-17 and 18+.  The winners will be announced online by December 20^th, and will receive a Christmas parcel of UK Space Agency merchandise.  The winning entries in each age category will be sent as a Christmas card to our Space Sustainability stakeholders, and the overall winner will be used for the UK Space Agency 2024 Christmas Card.

Terms and Conditions:

Designs must be your own work, and AI-generated images are NOT permitted.  We reserve the right to disqualify any images we have reason to believe are plagiarised or AI-generated. 

To qualify, designs must be posted to social media using the hashtag #KeepSpaceTidy, along with a paragraph about the importance of tackling space debris, and submitted via our online form.

By submitting your design via our form you give permission for the image to be used by the UK Space Agency and chosen partners in promotional material and publications – including online and in print – now and in the future, and waive any rights of compensation or ownership.

Your personal information will be processed in accordance with the Agency’s public task and legitimate interests, and your right to object to the processing of your personal data is not affected. The UK Space Agency is committed to processing personal information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws and will ensure that the rights and interests of data subjects are weighted appropriately.  The name and age category for each winning designer will be published on social media, sent online to our stakeholders with our digital Christmas cards, and may be published elsewhere alongside the winning designs. All other personal data will be deleted within 6 months from the competition closing date.

Entries will be judged by the UK Space Agency’s Space Sustainability team.  The judges’ decision is final.