Keely Hodgkinson selects SPAR Lancashire School Games 20 Years logo design competition winner
A Preston primary school pupil has created a logo to celebrate 20 years of the SPAR Lancashire School Games – with his winning design chosen by Team GB star athlete Keely Hodgkinson.
Ibrahim Musa, age 8, of St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School, channelled his design skills to craft the winning entry. It also means he has won his class a trip to the European Athletics Championships which are being held in Birmingham in August.
There, he and his school friends will see Keely begin the defence of her 800m European Athletics crown that she won in Rome in 2024 in front of a home crowd.
Run by Active Lancashire and the School Games Organiser Network, the Lancashire School Games have been sponsored by SPAR through its association with James Hall & Co. Ltd since 2006. The competition was launched by SPAR to mark two decades of sponsorship.
In another milestone, this year marks 30 years of SPAR’s sponsorship of the European Athletics Championships and 2026 is the first time they have been held in this country when Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium hosts the competition from 10th-16th August.
Ibrahim, known as Ibby by everyone at school, incorporated SPAR’s red and green logo on to the number 20 in his colourful design, as well as an athletics track, a rainbow, and medals.
He also included several values from his experience of participating in the SPAR Lancashire School Games – inclusion, respect, kindness, teamwork, passions, confidence, play fair, and friendship.
The commemorative 20 years logo will also appear on the sleeve of all T-shirts worn by over a thousand children participating in SPAR Lancashire School Games Finale events this summer.
Ibrahim’s design was the winner from more than 400 entries, and after choosing his design, Keely sent him a video message saying: “Congrats to Ibby who was the winner of the SPAR Lancashire School Games competition.
“This also means you and all your classmates are coming to watch me run at the European Champs in Birmingham. Can’t wait to see you all there supporting Team GB!”
Ibrahim also received signed photographs, and his original design was also autographed by the Olympic gold medal winning athletics star.
Ibrahim said: “I was shocked to win the competition, but I am very happy and proud to be the winner! I can’t wait to go to Birmingham to watch the athletics with my friends.
Philippa Harrington, Marketing Manager at James Hall & Co. Ltd, said: “We were keen to do something novel to mark 20 years of the SPAR Lancashire School Games as we are proud of this legacy. We felt asking Lancashire’s young people who are the beneficiaries of the activities and competitions was the right way to achieve this and I am delighted we chose that path.
“We had a brilliant response from School Games participants to our logo design competition and a huge well done to Ibrahim for winning. His design instantly jumped out in the shortlisting process and Keely clearly agreed that it was the standout design. Roll on Birmingham in August for the European Athletics – we look forward to seeing Ibrahim and his St Pius friends there!”
Andy Clark, Schools Partnership and Skills Officer at Active Lancashire, said: “As soon as SPAR presented the idea for a 20 years’ logo with a prize of a trip to the European Athletics it was obvious it was going to be popular. School Games Organisers really got behind the initiative, and I cannot think of a better way than engaging the creative minds of children to bring it to life.
“We had a fantastic number of entries, and Ibrahim’s design was also my personal favourite. During the digitisation process, we reworked Ibrahim’s intricate original entry to ensure that it was faithful as possible in detail and content for visibility on the T-shirts. Ibrahim was very pleased with the finished creative, and it really does ping with its colours.”
SPAR Lancashire School Games activity is delivered in three distinct clusters across the county – Coastal, Central, and Pennine – aligned to local needs. In the 2024-25 academic year, this included 45 feature events with 30,000 children participating in the School Games across the county.
James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent SPAR retailers and company-owned SPAR stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.