YOUNG Karl Pitt worked with a creative designer yesterday to see his winning anti-smoking logo become reality.

Karl, nine, of Tanfield Lea Junior School, won the Smoke Free Derwentside logo competition.

As part of his achievement, he enjoyed a tour of the design studio and print room at Hillprint Media in Newton Aycliffe.

He then worked with designer John Myers, before being given a mounted copy of his design to take away.

Karl was one of 600 school children, aged four to 18, who entered the competition to design a logo for a new project called Smoke Free Derwentside.

Karl's winning logo will be used to identify areas such as homes, workplaces, public spaces and schools that have smoke-free status. Smoke Free Derwentside, launched in July 2004, aims to improve the health of everyone in the district by encouraging policies that cut the amount of tobacco smoke in the environment.

Dr Anne Low, director of public health for Derwentside, said: "Smoke Free Derwentside is an important project for the area because it will tackle smoking, one of the major risk factors for ill health and early death from coronary heart disease, cancers, stroke and many other conditions.

"In the North-East there are over 5,500 smoking-related deaths each year. However, this statistic hides the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer as a result of active or passive smoking."