THREE budding artists are celebrating after they won a Daily Echo-backed competition to design Christmas cards.

Dozens of entries were received for the Wessex Heartbeat charity competition to help design a selection of cards for 2009.

The lucky winners were four-year-old Harley Gibbs who won the under 12 category, Tim Richardson, who won the humour category and Lesley Jennings who won the logo category.

They will now see their designs put on this year’s Wessex Heartbeat Christmas cards after a panel of judges voted their designs the best.

The lucky winners all received tickets to go and see a show of their choice courtesy of Southampton’s Mayflower theatre. They also received a framed copy of their artwork and a bottle of champagne.

Wessex Heartbeat was set up in 1992 to ensure the best possible care is provided for those affected by heart conditions.

The Wessex Cardiac Centre in Southampton General Hospital is one of the UK’s leading heart treatment centres treating around 20,000 people a year, a thousand of which are children.

Winners of the Daily Echo/Wessex Heartbeat Christmas card design competition Tim Richards, Lesley Jennings and four-year-old Harley Gibbs pictured with Daily Echo editor Ian Murray, left, and Wessex Heartbeat CEO D’Arcy Myers.