Rail Forum is delighted to announce the winners and runners-up of the 2025 Rail Safety Week Children’s Competitions, designed to help parents, guardians, and teachers spark important conversations with young people about staying safe on and around the railway.
This year’s competitions, kindly sponsored by RSSB, included a colouring competition for ages 4–6 and 7–9, as well as a ‘Design Your Railway Station’ competition for ages 10–12. From a shortlist of outstanding entries in each age group, our judging panel carefully selected the winners.
Our judges share their thoughts:
Ann Mills, Deputy Director System Safety and Health at RSSB said: “It was a pleasure for RSSB to sponsor the competition and acting as a judge was inspiring – the creativity and imagination shown by all the entrants was amazing.”
Bessie Matthews, designer of the Rail Safety Week children’s competitions, Author and Illustrator of Arlo’s Adventures and Freight Train Driver at GB Railfreight said: “Thank you to all the brilliant children who took part in the Rail Safety Week activities! We loved seeing your creativity and we were blown away by how much you know about staying safe around the railway. Well done to our amazing winners, and a big thank you to everyone who took part!”
Rail Safety Week Steering Group Member, Karen Bennett of Community Rail Network said: “It’s always a joy supporting the judging of the Rail Safety Week art competition. Again, there were a high standard of entries, and it was really difficult to choose our winners. The ideas for designing a station were superb! There’s a lot of talent in the engineers of the future!”
Ages 4-6 Winners
1st Place: Toby (age 4) 2nd Place: Juno (age 6) 3rd Place: Isha (age 6)
Ages 7-9 Winners
1st Place: Daisy (age 7) 2nd Place: Charlotte (age 9) 3rd Place: Olivia (age 9)
Ages 10-12 Winners
1st Place: Barnaby (age 11)
2nd Place: Arlo (age 9)
3rd Place: Cotty (age 11)
Jemma Smalls, Communications, Policy & Public Affairs Manager and Rail Safety Communications Lead said: “Our sincere thanks to Bessie for her continued support with our Rail Safety Week children’s colouring and design activities, and to RSSB for sponsoring this year’s competitions. It’s always a joy to see the creativity and thought that young people put into their entries. We’re already looking forward to next year’s competitions and inspiring even more conversations about engaging safely with the railways!”
Prizes for those who placed in the age categories include a Waterstones voucher, STEM encouragement book and a copy of Arlo’s Adventures.
Congratulations to all the children who took part in the 2025 Rail Safety Week Children’s Competitions, and a special well done to our winners!
See the full showcase of winners and runners-up on the Rail Safety Week website here.