Families, pets, friends and holidays were all chosen as favourite moments by local children for an art competition.

And now the artwork by around 30 local children is included in the John Taylor Hospice exhibition being hosted by an Erdington café.

The paintings, collages and drawings have all been chosen as winners in the Moments that Matter art competition launched by the hospice and Oikos Café in February.

Children aged up to 11 were invited to enter pictures of their special moments. The children whose artwork is chosen as first, second and third will win art materials and all the other finalists can see their pictures included in the special exhibition which will be on display throughout May.

More than 140 pictures were entered for the competition from children and schools across the city and judges were hugely impressed.

John Taylor Hospice head of community engagement Mark Jones (pictured), one of the judging panel, said: “The standard of artwork created by the children was incredibly high. We would have loved to include every picture in our exhibition but in the end we whittled it down to around 30.

“From these we will pick the first, second and third prize-winners – who will be announced during a special evening at Oikos Café on 17 May.

“What was particularly interesting was that when we asked children to recreate their most special moment nearly all chose to picture their families, friends and special occasions with loved ones.

“At John Taylor Hospice we believe in making every moment matter and it was really lovely to see that for local children, these favourite moments are all about being with people they love.”

The pictures are installed in Oikos Café on Erdington High Street during the month of May. On Friday 17 May the café hosts the monthly Evening of Creativity, organised by Erdington Café Arts, at which the winners will be announced. The Evening of Creativity, which takes place between 6-9pm will also feature creative activities and music.

Oikos Centre Manager Ben Jeffery said: “Oikos is a part of our local community and hosting an exhibition like this, featuring artwork by local children, is a brilliant way to promote that local community. We hope that visitors to our café during May will enjoy seeing the wonderful pictures the children have created.”

John Taylor Hospice and Oikos Café have organised the Moments that Matter competition as part of Birmingham’s A Festival of Life and Death held during May as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week. Organised by community interest company BrumYODO, the festival aims to use the arts and culture to encourage open and honest conversations about death and dying. For more on the festival click on brumyodo.org.uk