WORLD Cup fans have a last chance to enter our World Cup competitions with an extended deadline of June 1.

The prize a copy of The Ultimate Football World Cup 1998 book including a wallchart, published by Dorling Kindersley at £9.99.

In addition, our sports editor, Neil Bramwell, will award a copy of the official FIFA World Cup Super Stars booklet to the best written sentence in any entry.

We are offering two ways to win the book, and both are open to youngsters aged eight to 15. You can either:

Become a sports reporter and write a truthful but interesting account of a recent match (football or any other sport) played by your school team.

Your report should be about 150 to 200 words long and written in the snappy style of sports journalists.

Ask an adult to sign your report, saying that your account is your own and is truthful.

OR

Write a letter telling us about your all-time favourite football player, and why, in your opinion, he was or is the greatest. Write about 150 to 200 words and ask an adult to sign saying that it is your own work.

Entries to both competitions will be judged in two age groups of eight to 11-year-olds and 12 to 15-year-olds.

Entries for both competitions must be received by Monday, June 1, so start writing now

Make sure you include your name, age and school or home address and telephone number.

Send entries to NIE World Cup Competition at the address on this page.

Newshounds see for themselves

YOUNG newshounds from St Matthew's CE Primary School, Blackburn, have been checking out newspaper production on a tour of our head office and printing plant.

Pupils in Year Five at the school have made extensive use of our NIE scheme in their project linking life in Victorian times with modern newspapers.

During the term children have spent time researching events from the last century, writing news reports on these and incorporating them into pages designed in the style of today's newspapers.

To help them with the work, the class has had talks from our newspaper personnel and all pupils have taken part in our Story Search reading scheme.

It's the real thing

IN preparation for the production of their own newsletter, students in year 11 at Blackamoor Special School visited the Lancashire Evening Telegraph to see how the real thing is done. Senior pupils of the twin schools of Blackamoor and Dame Evelyn Fox are joining together on June 2, to produce a campus newsletter.

The event, sponsored by Blackburn Regeneration Partnership and McDonald's, is designed to give pupils a taste of a real work situation, develop their ability to work in a team, raise their self-confidence and also to show the people the quality of work that they can produce.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.