ARTISTIC postie Sharon Hanson drew on her own experience of getting stuck in the snow to create the winning design for this year's Royal Mail employees Christmas card, which won her a trip to the USA.

The 33-year-old, who works at the Bromsgrove delivery office at Aston Fields, came up with the eye-catching cartoon after thinking back to times when her red Royal Mail van came to a standstill in wintry weather.

Her design took four days to complete and shows a Parcelforce Worldwide van stuck in the snow with a postman and woman on bikes pulling it free.

The picture has won Sharon a trip to New York, which she plans to take in December to get a taste of the Big Apple at Christmas.

The winning design was selected by Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton. It has now been printed ready to land on the doormats of more than 200,000 employees and subpostmasters across the country.

It is the first time Royal Mail has run a competition to design a staff Christmas card and Sharon's entry was one of 120.

Her design was chosen from a short list of ten.

Mr Leighton said: "The standard of the designs was exceptionally high. Sharon's cartoon captured the spirit of Royal Mail at Christmas and made her entry the winning choice."

Sharon, a postwoman for 12 years, said she likes to dabble with cartoons and has an O-level in art.

"It was quite emotional really when I heard I had won and obviously I was very chuffed," she said.