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Anik was 11 years old when the global Covid-19 pandemic first struck the UK in March 2020. Overnight, Anik’s school, along with all the other 4,000 secondary schools in the UK, was shut down. For the next few months, Anik and his classmates attended school online. They lost their usual routines and missed seeing each other in person every day.
When school children were finally allowed back into school in June 2020, Anik was keen to make sure everyone followed Covid-19 precautions to limit the spread of the virus and make sure schools didn’t have to shut again. When Anik heard about the national Covid-19 health & safety competition, he decided to use his passion for art and technology to design a poster to offer guidance on Covid-19 precautions.
Inspired by Lord Kitchener’s famous, ‘Your Country Wants YOU’ poster encouraging men to sign up to fight for their country in World War I, Anik titled his poster, ‘Your country needs YOU to follow the advice and rules.’ Under the main title he wrote calls to action including: ‘Always try and stay 2m apart,’ ‘Wash your hands frequently for 20 seconds with soap,’ and ‘If you use public transport, wear a mask.’
Anik’s poster was highly praised by the competition organisers and he was awarded first place. The organisers were so impressed that they had fifty copies professionally printed so Anik could distribute them around his school. Anik’s tip to other young people designing posters is to make them as colorful as possible, saying, ‘You should want to stop and look at it.’
