Aberdeen Bypass Mascot Competition Winners Announced

A competition to design a mascot for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty project has come to an end with the presentation of 14 awards to children and schools from across the north east.

The competition, which is part of a wider schools engagement project being run by the contractor, Aberdeen Roads Limited, was split into seven categories, including awards for nursery, primary and secondary pupils; overall awards for the best nursery, primary and secondary schools and a special recognition award, along with runners-up for each individual category.

Overall winner and receiver of the Special Recognition award (entry pictured) was won by Chapel of Garioch Primary School in Inverrurie. Cameron Paton (6), said:

“We had lots of fun designing a mascot for the AWPR. Our teacher helped us put our ideas on the white board and then we all had to do different parts of the poster. We used sponges and potato printers. We’re all really happy that we got a special prize.”

Primary seven Stoneywood school pupil Euan Bridgeford added: “We all know the AWPR is really important to us because it’s near our school and community, so we wanted to be part of this competition.

“Everyone in our class worked hard to design a mascot for the AWPR in their own time and we were over the moon to find out we had won the prize for Overall Primary School.”

Mrs Claire Rasmussen, principal teacher at Stoneywood school added: “This was a really exciting project for the children to be involved in and it gave them the opportunity to use their imagination and learn about the AWPR, which is such a vital project for our area.

“We’re thrilled that the children’s hard work and creativity has been recognised with the Overall Primary School Award and I can honestly say, having seen all their designs, that they really deserve it and have made the whole school incredibly proud.”

John Wilson, an AWPR/B-T project spokesperson, said: “Working with schools is a huge part of our community engagement programme for this project and this art competition, in particular, has exceeded all expectations. The contractor received over 260 entries, one as far afield as Fraserburgh, which is a great indication of how important this project is to the north east.”

Aberdeen City Council Education committee member Councillor Tauqeer Malik, and Councillor Charles Buchan, Vice Chair of Education, Learning and Leisure from Aberdeenshire Council presented the awards, which included inscribed trophies and arts and crafts materials.

Steve Petrie, Sustainability Director for AWPR Construction Joint Venture added: “We were overwhelmed by the quality of entries we received and we really enjoyed looking through each of them and learning more about what the bypass means and represents to local school children.

“Each of the finalists displayed a fantastic use of imagination and colour in their designs and they’ll all go down in history as being a part of the process of building the AWPR/B-T.”

Councillor Tauqeer Malik said: “It was great to see all the entries – they were so colourful and were a fantastic effort by all the children. Well done to the winners and a big thanks to all the youngsters taking part.

“The pupils will be able to tell future generations how they helped play their part in the AWPR/B-T project and you never know, they might end up being inspired and work in the roads or civil engineering industries.”

Cllr Buchan from Aberdeenshire Council said: “We saw such a great range of creativity from the pupils and it was clear they’d put an immense amount of effort into their entries.

“It’s great to see such interest in the AWPR/B-T project and I hope the children have enjoyed playing their part in creating such a recognisable character for the scheme.

“It also serves as a great opportunity for our young people to develop an understanding of the science and engineering industries and perhaps consider them as a future career option.”

The AWPR/B-T Contact and Education Centre is available for school visits. Schools wishing to arrange a visit or to arrange a visit by the Community Liaison Team, should call 0800 058 8350.

The AWPR/B-T project is jointly funded by Transport Scotland, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council.