A 12-YEAR-OLD North-East girl has won the title of Britain's Brainiest Kid.

Laura Hibbert, who lives in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, defeated 23 other junior brainboxes to win the televised contest.

The schoolgirl beat of hundreds of entries from across the country to qualify for the final, hosted by Carol Vorderman.

The general knowledge quiz split the contestants into groups of 12 boys and 12 girls in the first round.

Laura answered ten out of 12 questions correctly to finish in the top three and qualify for the semi-final.

The region's other representative, Daniel Higgins, 11, from Newcastle, fell at the first hurdle, but answered several questions before being eliminated.

In the semi-final of three girls and three boys, Laura had to pick two subjects to answer questions on.

She got 16 points from her choices, literature and the natural world, to finish top and qualify for the final.

The three finalists had to employ tactics as well as displaying their knowledge, and Laura kept her cool and her nerve to correctly answer three questions on her specialist subject, the life of Charles Dickens.

That was enough to keep her ahead of her opponents and earn her the title of Britain's Brainiest Kid.

Laura, who attends Hordle Walhampton School, Hampshire, is to become a media star and was yesterday embarking on a series of Press and TV interviews.

Speaking before the show was broadcast, Laura said: "It was really, really exciting and everyone was really friendly. One of my teachers had been on TV and he said it was nothing special, but it was."