A YOUNG band is looking forward to a bright future after winning a regional talent competition.

Darlington band Kartel won the TFM Unsigned 2006 competition against five other acts in the grand final, in front of an audience of 700 at Zanzibar Club, in Stockton.

The band had earlier won the Darlington heat of the competition, and can now look forward to making use of a 32-track digital recording studio, and will have their tracks played on TFM radio

The four judges - Jon Kirby, TFM promotions manager and former professional musician, Pam Hargreaves, young people and partnerships manager with the North-East Really Delivers (Nerd), Michael Pallister, owner of Toni & Guy hairdressers, in Darlington, and Trevor Gilligan, sound engineer with Kasabian, Starsailor and The Thrills - agreed that Kartel were "very impressive".

James Garbutt, lead singer of Kartel, said they were delighted to have won the competition.

"This will really help us to raise our profile in the region. We produce a creative mix of music and cannot be pigeon-holed into one genre. We are just delighted to have impressed the judges," he said.

Cath Ellington, managing director of TFM, said: "There is a huge amount of talent in the North-East and this was demonstrated by every single group which entered the competition. The atmosphere at the final was electric, with each band bringing their supporters to the event.

"The judges recognised Kartel's raw talent and I hope winning TFM Unsigned gives the group an opportunity to progress their career."