Tell us why you deserve a special Christmas gift!

The Echo’s ever-popular Dear Santa competition, this year being kindly supported by Stagecoach North East, is now officially open.

We’re calling on our young readers all across Sunderland to write and tell us why they deserve an extra special gift from Father Christmas.

Prizes are available, and since it’s the festive season, younger children can get their parents, grandparents, older siblings or whoever looks after them to give them a helping hand.

EMAIL IT TO US

Start your letter with ‘I deserve a special gift from Santa because ...’ and send it via email to beverley.glover@jpress.co.uk, or fill in and post the coupon on this page.

Make sure you include a photo of the child who is entering, as well as their name, age, address and also telephone details for the person entering on their behalf.

We’ll pass the letters on to Santa, who’ll choose who he believes deserves an extra special gift under the Christmas tree.

Rather than just writing a list, please make sure you tell us why you deserve to win the prize, which will be to the value of £100 for the winner and to the value of £50 each for two runners-up.

POST IT TO US

You can post the coupon to Dear Santa, Sunderland Echo, Alexander House, 1 Mandarin Road, Rainton Bridge Business Park, Houghton, Sunderland, DH4 5RA.

Entries close on Friday, December 8.