ORGANISERS of a recycling competition were so impressed by a school's entry that they decided to award an extra prize.

Pupils from 18 schools collected old Yellow Pages directories for a competition organised by Sedgefield Borough Council and environmental project WasteWise.

Tudhoe Moor Nursery School won the £500 top prize from sponsor Yellow Pages for collecting 1,023 books, the most per pupil.

That total was beaten by Ferryhill Station Primary School, which collected 1,135 books, but was beaten to first place because it has more pupils.

Headteacher Val Jago said: "Sedgefield Borough Council were so impressed we had collected such a lot of books that they decided to donate £250 to us as a second prize."

The directories will be turned into animal bedding. In the meantime, pupils at Ferryhill Station have been using them to make models of characters from the Wizard of Oz.

The cash will be used for an environmental project at the school.

Mrs Jago said: "We are really pleased.

"We are trying to develop an area of the playground for the youngest reception children.

"Part of the school building is used by the Sure Start project, so we are going to share this area with them."