TALENTED school children have been rewarded for their colourful contribution to the Northumbria In Bloom painting competition.

About 100 children gathered at Spennymoor Town Hall for a ceremony aimed at celebrating the hard work they had put into their paintings.

Competition winner Kirsty Borwell, 13, was presented with a framed copy of her painting, which has been used on the front page of the Northumbria In Bloom 2003 calendar. The work, which shows a garden through an arched window, won Kirsty a £20 gift voucher.

The teenager, from Whitworth Special School, in Spennymoor, said she was thrilled when she realised her efforts had made the front page.

The ceremony was attended by Spennymoor Town Councillors, judges Tina Ryder and Audrey Manuel of Northumbria in Bloom and the BBC's Marian Foster.

Another Whitworth Special School pupil, ten-year-old Hannah Close was also recognised for her work - a vase of flowers - which also appears in the calendar.

Other children to receive a special mention were three-year-old Jayne Etherington and Adam Hastie, four, from Tudhoe Moor Nursery and Shannon Gill, six, from Middlestone Moor Primary School.

Town mayor Ross Hawkes said: "They are all winners. The town council would like to recognise the effort that was put in by everyone."