Young players at the county’s boys’ or girls’ football teams are invited to submit creative, hand-drawn designs for a brand new mascot to engage under 18s with our local football safeguarding services.

The colourful character ideas can be shared on social media until Monday 30th August, after which the winner of the competition will receive an England shirt as a prize. Their mascot will also help to raise awareness of the facilities accessible to people aged under 18 who have concerns for the safeguarding or welfare of someone in grassroots football.

This is an opportunity for Essex children to get creative, and the mascot designs must be colourful, simple and fun. The intention for the mascot is to provide an instantly-recognisable character to encourage under 18s to learn more about how to access safeguarding support services via our website, and other relevant organisations.

Essex County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer, Helen Hever, explained: "This activity is ideal for the summer holidays… so be creative! Designs must be really appealing to young people, with a football theme. They need to be simple and colourful and I’m looking forward to seeing what the young people of Essex have come up with!"

Please submit your mascot designs on Twitter or Facebook, tagging @EssexCountyFA. You can also interact with us by searching for ‘EssexFootball’ on Facebook. Alternatively, you can E-Mail designs to chloe.hookins@essexfa.com. Entries will be judged by the Safeguarding Team after the Monday 30th August deadline.