Some big smiles will be on the faces of Hawke's Bay school children who won a competition to create posters and banners which best showed support for the Hawke's Bay Magpies.
Classrooms of students banded together to create banners that will go up at Magpies games, while individual students made posters
which will be displayed at a pre-game dinner this Friday.
Magpies stars Jason Shoemark and Zac Guildford and IMS Payroll sales and marketing manager Patrick Hegarty had some tough decisions to make in giving away 600 tickets to local schools for fundraising projects.
The three judges looked at a large number of posters and banners with the theme "it's in our blood".
Waipukurau Primary School's room 4 pupils won the banner competition and now have 100 tickets to sell as a fundraiser for the school.
They also won the opportunity to attend a Magpies training run.
Taradale Primary School's room 9 came second and Dannevirke's Huia Range Primary School room 11 third. Each school also received 100 tickets.
In the individual entries, Luke Gichard, of St Patrick's Primary School, won a signed Magpie rugby jersey and 100 tickets for his school, George Kilmister, of St Joseph's in Waipukurau, was second and received a signed rugby ball and 100 tickets for his school, and Shaun Newell, from Dannevirke's Huia Range Primary, won 100 tickets for his school.
IMS Payroll managing director Kevin Atkinson said the six lots of 100 tickets, donated by IMS, were worth a total of $18,000.
"Schools are always looking for ways to fundraise, so it was great that we could put some community use to the tickets we get," Mr Atkinson said.
"The banners and posters looked fantastic and it was great to see the imaginative ways that students designed the Magpies and IMS Payroll Logos along with the It's in our blood theme."
The banners and posters will be on display at this Friday night's game against the Bay of Plenty Steamers.
"Other ITM cup teams don't enjoy coming to McLean Park because of our loud and loyal fans and the banners will just add to the atmosphere," Mr Atkinson said. "Black and white is what we're all about!"
