Seven-year-old Dubai boy Shane Matthew is among 10 winners of IKEA’s global drawing competition.

His drawing of a fluffy lion was selected from 70,000 drawings submitted globally by children aged 12 or under.

The winning designs will become a special limited soft toy collection, to be launched in IKEA stores worldwide as part of the firm’s “Let’s Play for Change Campaign”.

The initiative supports children’s right to play and develop across the globe. For each soft toy sold globally, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to organisations that support children in need such as Save the Children and Unicef.

In the UAE, the Swedish home furniture retailer, part of Al Futtaim, received over 905 submissions to the competition.

Shane’s winning drawing was inspired by the Cowardly Lion from the ‘Wizard of Oz’, one of his favourite bedtime stories. The seven-year-old who is enrolled in grade two at Gems Founders School in Dubai dreams to become a scientist when he grows up and create his own inventions.

“We would like to congratulate Shane, and thank all the young participants for their unique and creative ideas. We are proud to have a winner selected from the UAE and are grateful to have contributed towards this global initiative,” said John Kersten, managing director, IKEA UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman.

Shane’s Fluffy Lion was described by Product Developer in Children’s IKEA Bodil Fritjofsson as: “A fluffy, happy cartoonlike lion, looking like he’s saying “I’m on fire”, ready for any adventure, but he won’t eat you. Big soft nice feet.”

Representatives of IKEA in the UAE are planning a small celebration for Shane in the IKEA store in Dubai Festival City to recognise his achievement.

Source: gulfnews.com