AN AMBITIOUS 11-year-old girl has been announced as the winner of the BIC® KIDS Young Artist Award 2018.

Ayesha Tania's pencil drawing of a macaw was voted as the winning piece by the public.

The Newport girl's drawing was one of nearly 1,000 entries from across the UK and Ireland. Ayesha, along with other finalists, had their artwork displayed on billboards across the UK throughout the voting period.

As the overall champion, Ayesha's work will be seen on a further selection of billboards from the end of September. She also won a bespoke art party for her family and friends, courtesy of BIC®

Illustrator Phil Corbett, who sat on the judging panel for thEcompetition, said: “We’re thrilled to announce Ayesha as the 2018 winner of the BIC® KIDS Young Artist Award. Her macaw drawing is technically outstanding.

"The bird itself is so vibrant and realistic but the background is also extremely well put together. The fact that Ayesha was also a winner last year shows that she really does have huge amounts of artistic skill.”

Rebecca Huda, BIC® UK and Ireland’s product manager for stationery, said: “We were incredibly impressed by the quality of submissions received and diverse subject matters tackled by young artists from all across the country.

"It was immensely difficult for our panel of experts to whittle the artworks down to just 14 finalists in the first place, so to win the title of overall winner really is a huge accolade for Ayesha.

“We’d like to thank all of the participants.”