TEENAGERS have won acclaim for their films about drugs, alcohol, teenage pregnancy, bullying and smoking.

The 15 teenagers from Thornaby, near Stockton, have produced the films in the hope of having a bigger impact on their peers than teachers and other adults.

There were no speaking parts for any of the actors at The Five Lamps youth club, known as The Youthy.

Instead, carefully chosen music and written words, together with realistic scenarios featuring the young people themselves, take the place of the spoken world.

The words are in a bubble coming out of the speaker's mouth, like a comic.

It is hoped that the cameos, which have already attracted a lot of interest from health and education managers, will be used as a teaching resource.

The project, funded by the Local Network Fund, has taken several months to complete.

Tracy Wilkinson, 24, a youth participation worker, said: "The young people who have spent months making the films in their spare time are putting over the message that young people should think hard before being persuaded to take a course of action that could ruin their lives.

"The feeling was that if they put over a message themselves it would be more sympathetically received, and I think to a large extent that is true because young people relate to each other, and know what is happening out there."

Hayley Wallace, 17, who took part in the project said: "When we were throwing around suggestions for the films, we talked a lot about things that were happening around us.

"I think that we were all different people by the time we had finished the project."