A STUDENT has gained a top award in an international art competition.

Siyona Bhandari, nine, of Slough, won second place in the ‘Look and Learn’ children’s art competition, in the middle (8-11) age category, beating 10,000 other submissions.

The theme of the competition was ‘Transportation of the Future’, and Miss Bhandari came second with her futuristic vision of legged walking vehicles in a night-time city on Mars.

The competition was run by Look and Learn, a London-based historical picture gallery.

Miss Bhandari trained under Marinela Caldarus, who runs the Art Classes Group in the Observatory shopping centre.

Ms Caldarus said: “There were thousands of entries from all around the world, so to come second is amazing.

“She’s been training here for about a year, and has really improved her skills – and now we can see the results.”

Miss Bhandari’s mother, Komudi Bhandari, said: “The theme of the competition was ‘Transportation of the Future’, and she thought about how man would explore other planets in the future.

“That’s why she did a painting of earth in the distance, while machines walk over a red planet. She’s quite imaginative – and she was very proud and happy to win.”

Ms Bhandari said her daughter, who attends Parlaunt Park Primary, was ‘very enthusiastic’ about her art.

However, Miss Bhandari has become one of the final winners of the long-running international competition, which has now closed down permanently due to the newly introduced data protection laws. Upon closure, the competition had seen 175,608 entries in total from around the world.

Ms Caldarus said: “They had details of children in their online art galleries, so they had to close the whole thing down. It’s quite a shame.

“I’m thinking of starting a competition of my own, again just for children.”