AN 11-year-old has earned a place on the pages of two of Britain's best-loved comics after his cartoon creation won him the title of UK's Best Young Cartoonist.

Nobody could dispute that housework is unpopular with children - but Ben Nightingale used his aversion to domestic chores as inspiration for his comic strip hero, Jonny Gizmo, a mad inventor who creates robots to do household tasks.

His cartoon so impressed judges in a national competition that they picked it to appear in children's comics The Beano and Dandy.

To reach the contest's finals, Ben, from Alpine Court, Chester-le-Street, beat off competition from hundreds of young artists to secure a place at one of five regional heats, which was held in Scotland, at Edinburgh Zoo.

There, he learnt the art of professional cartooning from The Beano and Dandy's experts and submitted a second instalment of Jonny Gizmo's adventures.

Ben then came first at the national finals and won an all-expenses paid trip to the comics' headquarters in Dundee, to watch his cartoon strip roll off the presses in issues of the comics.

Ben, a pupil at Park View Comprehensive School, in Chester-le-Street, also received a computer, drawing software and a year's supply of Capri-Sun, the competition sponsors.

Ben said: "This has made me want to carry on drawing and my dream would be to work for the Beano and Dandy when I grow up."

His mother, Lynda, said: "He's always coming up with different cartoon characters and new ideas - he's done it for years."

Jordan Took, 12, from York, was one of four runners-up who won £250 worth of art materials and annuals signed by the Beano and Dandy editor.