THE winner of a painting competition based on a trip to kennels has received her prize.

Laura Black, 11, was presented with prizes for herself and her school, St Godric's RC, in Durham, by Durham City councillor David Bell, who is responsible for environmental matters.

The event was organised as part of an open day at Deerness Kennels, where Durham schoolchildren saw dog handling displays and an exhibition by the RSPCA.

They also took part in a "bin it" race, picking up plastic dog waste and putting it in bins, and a quiz with questions such as "Where would you go if you lost your dog?", and "How would the kennels know who owned your dog?".

As the children left the open-day, they handed in paintings of dogs, and after hers was judged best, Laura was given a £50 book token for her school and a £10 token for herself.

Councillor Bell said: "This was a terrific day, in which we all had a lot of fun and managed to get across some ser-ious messages.

"We're hoping to carry this on as an annual event, and we were delighted with the response from schools across the district."