A PARTIALLY-sighted student is one of a trio of promising teenagers from Prior Pursglove College who won a regional award.

Launched by the Northern Region of The Association of Colleges, the North-East Student Oscars promote a "can do culture".

Partially-sighted Charlotte Ellis, 17, was entered in the Best Performance of Curriculum 2000 (key skills) category and was nominated by teachers who were impressed with her achievements.

She was singled out for praise for the way she tackled a project on the way the Nazis imposed their ideology on women.

Traditional ways of putting her points over in a presentation were ruled out because of her sight impairment, but that did not stop her from delivering a highly-charged, dynamic performance in which she was able to illustrate the results of her in-depth research.

Athlete Chris Tomlinson, 19, won an Oscar after being nominated in the Excellence in Sport category.

He represented Great Britain in the long jump at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Chile.

He also became an Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) junior long jump champion in indoor and outdoor competitions and became the youngest athlete to win the full senior AAA indoor long jump title, at 18 years old, and represented Great Britain in the under-20s' internationals in Italy, Germany and France.

He holds the AAA senior title and was awarded the full Senior International Vest.

Rachael Taylor, 18, was nominated in the Best Performance in Arts and Humanities category. Described as an outstanding scholar and now reading law at Manchester University, she was singled out for her research into aspects of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. She got A grades in four A-levels last summer.

Stephen Whitehead, principal of the Guisborough college said: "We are delighted and immensely proud that these three students won North-East Student Oscars.

"They are all committed young people who have a strong sense of what they want to achieve in their lives."