Winners of 12th annual Christmas Card and Calendar competition revealed

HIID
Dec 16
2 min read

Winners of annual Christmas Card and Calendar competition — Winners of the Christmas Card and Calendar competiton

We are delighted to confirm the winners of our annual Christmas art competition for brain injury survivors.

More than 140 entries were submitted by people from brain injury groups across Scotland with the hope of seeing their creations feature in the 2025 Christmas card or 2026 calendar.

The judging panel - which this year included guest judge Mairi Perry, Art Therapist at Perry Psychotherapy - was thoroughly impressed by the standard of entries and found it a real challenge to pick just 14 lucky winners.

Judges of the 2025 Christmas Card and 2026 Calendar competition with artwork submitted on table — Judges of the 2025 Christmas Card and 2026 Calendar competition

Mairi commented:

“Art is a remarkable force. It strengthens cognitive pathways, supports rehabilitation and creates room for expression when words fall short. Seeing that creativity shine through each submission was an absolute joy.”

The Awards Ceremony

Chris Stewart, Head of Digby Brown’s Serious Injury Department, hosted a winner’s lunch at the Doubletree by Hilton in Glasgow on Tuesday 9 December and praised the efforts of all who took part.

He said:

"It's always such a joy to come together and showcase the incredible artistic talents of brain injury survivors across Scotland.

"One of our fantastic winners, Vivien, wasn't able to come today as she's unwell, but she told us that the annual competition motivates her to get out of bed and work on her art - and that is the reason why we do this.

"A huge thank you to everyone who participated and congratulations to our winners!"

Tam Ewing, member of Murdostoun Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre (BIRC) whose group submission ‘All Hands On Deck’ won the coveted cover spot on the 2026 calendar, said: "I'm not really an artist person myself - but art therapy has been a nice way for me to get through therapy in a way that's less intensive and more expressive than, say, physiotherapy and other things like that."

Christmas Card Winner 2025

One lucky winner will now see their artwork used for the annual Digby Brown Christmas Card which the firm sends to external partners and stakeholders.

Vivien Paton, Ceartas ABI Café

The 2026 Calendar

The other 13 winners will see their artwork displayed in the 2026 Calendar which is shared with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) support groups across the country.

Each winning artist receives a £20 M&S voucher, a certificate and copies of the card and calendar to share with family and friends, while the charity they represent also receives a cheque for £200. Groups who submitted artwork but sadly didn’t win, also received £100 each.

Find full details of the winning entries below: