A CHRISTMAS card designed by a ­talented city pupil will soon be winging its way around the world.

The work by Georgia Bland, 11, has been ­selected as an official card for the Department of International Development which has a headquarters in East Kilbride.

The Glasgow Academy pupil's winning ­entry, which was picked from hundreds of ­submissions, will be converted into an electronic card and sent with the good wishes of ministers and staff at the department.

The organisation has offices in 28 countries and works from Malawi to Bangladesh helping to improve the lives of the poorest people.

The Christmas card, which was one of three winners, will be sent to contacts and made available on Facebook for the public to use.

Children worldwide were invited to design cards through the British Council's school linking programme, Connecting Classrooms.

They were asked to ­illustrate the theme "Working together we can make the world a better place".

The winners were ­selected by International Development Minister Alan Duncan who said:"Georgia's card ­really sums up the ­festive spirit.

"The drawing and ­design are excellent and we will be proud to send it to our contacts around the world.

"We were looking for images that reflect the importance of working together to make the world a better place. Georgia and the other young artists have produced a set of real Christmas crackers!"

The overall winner was Miriam Mohan George, 13, from India and the runner-up ­Nevaeh Brown, 7, from Bristol.

vivienne.nicoll@eveningtimes.co.uk