A MULTI-talented youngster from Blackburn has won a national competition to design a Christmas card for a blindness charity.


Caitlin Leigh, who is visually impaired, made a card featuring two plump robins sitting on a branch and wearing festive hats, which will now be sent out as an e-card for Action for Blind People.


The charity ran the competition to show that sight loss isn’t a barrier to art, and the 11-year-old scooped the top prize in the category for nine to 12-year-olds.


Caitlin, who goes to St James Primary School in Lower Darwen, has already been described as an 'inspiration ' by the charity for her judo skills, after she started competing with fully-sighting children at Beach Judo Club in Westbury Gardens, as well as Shadsworth Judo Club.


Mum Claire, 33, said: "She was absolutely over the moon when she found out she'd won. Her face was a picture and she couldn't believe it.


"She's been doing really well with her judo and is still competing, but she also loves drawing and making pictures and collages."


Caitlin, a member of the charity's Actionnaires Club in Blackburn, has glaucoma and is registered blind. She and her family live in Leopold Way in Highercroft.


Janet Beale, of Action for Blind People, said: “We were delighted with the effort that youngsters put into their designs. 


"We provide a range of creative, social and sporting opportunities to enable young people develop, boosting their confidence by proving that sight loss isn’t a barrier to success. Caitlin is proof of this, so well done to her and to all the other youngsters who took part.”


The charity provides practical and emotional advice and support across England to people who are blind and partially sighted and their friends and family.