A MUSICAL masterpiece, which involved more than a hundred of the region's schoolchildren, has scooped a national prize.

Arts and Business Awards are presented to projects which show what can happen when culture and business join forces.

A partnership between the Harrogate International Festival and Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, beat off tough competition from across the country to claim the Arts, Business and Employees Award at a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, in London.

A grant from the Arts and Business New Partners Scheme prompted directors from both companies to look at ways they could work together to help take music into local schools.

Children from Starbeck Primary, and Hookstone Chase and Western County Primary, in Harrogate, were asked to work on a story which they could set to music with the help of composer Bill Connor.

The finished musical, Cooking With Sounds, which followed the story of an artist commissioned to paint a picture of a mysterious Betty, was then performed before an audience, including parents and civic dignitaries, in May.

"This award is a huge accolade to everyone involved," said festival director William Culver-Dodds. "Cooking with Sounds demonstrated how business and the arts can join together and achieve results.