SINGING starlet Zoe Birkett returned to her home town yesterday and became the first recipient of an award to mark the positive efforts of young people.

The 16-year-old, from Darlington, visited The Northern Echo's offices in Priestgate and received a certificate to mark her nomination in the Positive Young People Awards 2002.

The rest of the nominees will receive their awards at a formal ceremony at Darlington Civic Theatre on March 25, but Zoe is unable to attend because she will be on a tour organised following the success of the Pop Idol TV show.

After being presented with the certificate by editor Peter Barron, Zoe thanked people in the region for their support during the show.

She also thanked The Northern Echo for its We're Backing Zoe campaign, which encouraged people all over the North-East to vote for the Carmel RC Technology College student.

Zoe said she was now unlikely to return to college where she had been studying three A-levels, although she is keeping open the option of continuing her education in the future.

For now, she will concentrate on holding talks with a number of record company bosses who have made offers of contracts.

"It all depends what the offers involve," she said.

"I probably won't be going back to college, but I'm just going to have to see what's most important. I need my education to fall back on."

A flood of entries in the closing days of the nomination period looks set to make the Positive Young People Awards 2002 a glowing tribute to the efforts of young people. Zoe received many nominations for the way she has brought the town to the public attention.

Organisers hope hundreds of people will turn up at the town's Civic Theatre to applaud the nominees and their achievements.

It is being organised by the PS2K peer support team, Darlington Partnership and Darlington Borough Council's community education department, in conjunction with The Northern Echo.

Rumana Ramzan, general manager of the Darlington Partnership, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of young people in Darlington and we should do more of it.

"It's really encouraging to see such a variety of nominations and entries and I hope that this event will go on in the future to encourage more young people to participate."

Details about tickets for the show are available from the borough council's community education department on (01325) 388831.