Each year the visitors to the Festival vote for their favourite trees, the children take part in special competitions and there are raffles for various goodies. Each visitor to the festival is given a voting form on arrival and selects their favourite tree and at the end of the festival our amazing volunteers then collate and count all the votes.
The Covid-19 pandemic meant things had to be a little different though and the festival went online for the first time ever. Entrants created and then photographed their trees to display in the Brightlingsea Virtual Christmas Tree Festival and viewers could vote for their favourites.The winners of the 2020 competition were:





The winners of the 2019 competition were:





The winners of the 2018 competitions were:






The winners of the 2017 competitions were:
Favourite Christmas Tree, was won by
Adult Group – Brightlingsea Litter Pickers with ‘The Litter Tree’

Adult Individual – Zoe Aldridge with ‘The Tree of Life’

Children’s Group – Brightlingsea Junior school with ‘On the Twelfth Day of Christmas’

Child Individual – The Ryder family with ‘Joseph’s Carpen’tree’

The Rock Hunt was won by
- Max Parkinson aged 11 yrs.
- Isabelle Day aged 6 yrs.
The Raffles were won by
- Hamper – The French Family
- Village Snow Scene – A Etheridge
The winners of the 2016 competitions were:
TREE WINNERS
Child individual Isabelle’s Christmas Tree Isabelle Day
Child group Owl I want for Christmas Brightlingsea Junior School
Child/Runners-up (Highly Commended) It all begins with ABC Childminding Group and A Fishmas Tree Brightlingsea Infant School Kids Club & Nursery
Adult individual Angel Delight Zoe Aldridge
Adult group A Christmas Tree-t WoolyBuly Craft Group
Adult/Runners-up (Highly Commended) Notes on a Tree Sing Brightlingsea and Helping Hands at the Heart of the Community First Responders
CHILDREN’S QUIZ WINNERS
Quiz 8/11: Gracie Hempstead-Smith, age 11; Megan Plummer, age 9
Quiz 5/7: Cody Buck , age 7; Sullivan French, age 5
Guess the Lamb’s Name : Marie Murphy, age 5 – Lamb’s name “ Angel”
HAMPER WINNER
Vivien Chapman
DEER WINNER
Bev Aldridge
CHRISTMAS CAKE WINNER
Bob and Rose Gudger
The winners of the 2015 tree competition were:
Children’s Section
Child Group – Forestree, Colne Community School
Child Individual – The Night before Christmas, Hamilton Family
Highly Commended – Christmas Tree Under the Sea, Brightlingsea Infant School
Highly Commended – Individualitree, Brightlingsea Junior School
Adult Section
Adult Group – The Night Before Christmas, WoolyBuly’s Craft Group
Adult Individual – Have a Merry Berry Christmas, Bridge Ladies
Highly Commended – We Three Kings, Brightlingsea Beach Hut Association
In addition there are competitions run for the children in the church during the festival. The winners of the 2015 competitions for children were:
Children’s Competitions
Gold Bar Competition – Samuel Smith and Sophie Thorne
Rhymes and Riddles – Oscar Finbow and Amber
Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to Samuel, Sophie, Oscar and Amber