HI, I'm Stacey Brandwood, a year 8 pupil at Pleckgate High School, Blackburn. My hobbies are swimming, reading and art and design.

I have always enjoyed drawing and colouring from an early age, and love to enter art competitions, including those in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. Over the years I have won videos, books, vouchers, show tickets, T-shirts and lots of other things.

Earlier this year I was thrilled to win a competition to design the front and back cover for a celebrity cook book produced by Blackburn Council.

This features recipes and tips from famous people like Jo Brand, Gary Lineker and David Gower and is sold in bookshops to raise money for charity. But the main reason I enter competitions is because I am fascinated with art and enjoy using different materials to create effects.

I pick up tips by watching art programmes on TV and visiting craft fairs. You can learn a lot by watching people create all sorts of things from bits and pieces. All you really need is a bit of imagination and lots of patience.

Of course, things don't always work out the way I want them to, but I practice again and again until I think it looks right.

So, if you're a creative person, why not have a go at designing and making things. There are always plenty of interesting competitions to enter and you will never know how good you are until you try.

WELL done, Stacey, we are sure we will see lots more of your work in the news in the future. And Stacey is right about art and design competitions in our newspaper, in fact two were launched in the NIE column last week. One of these asked youngsters to suggest a snappy title for the NIE column and possibly to design the style of lettering for this; the other challenged them to re-design the NIE logo, while including the words Newspapers in Education, Lancashire Evening Telegraph and ELTEC. All designs should be in black and white only.

Both competitions will be judged in two age groups, 8-12 year olds and 13-16 year olds, and the closing date is October 31, so get those pens and pencils going.

Send your entries with your name, age and school address to NIE competition, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn BB1 1HT.

The message is spreading

OUR fame is spreading - we have been inundated with requests for our free fact pack for young journalists, not only from schools and other readers in our area, but even as far as Scotland.

Madeleine Courtney, a teacher at Beath High School, Cowdenbeath, was enjoying a short break in the Yorkshire Dales and East Lancashire when she spotted the NIE column in our newspaper. As she is a firm believer in the use of newspapers in school, she wrote to ask for a copy of our fact pack and we were happy to oblige. When we also explained about the wealth of material we produce, especially to support the schools of East Lancashire, she was amazed and rather envious of their opportunity to make use of this. So if your school is looking for a canny way to motivate pupils, including our highly successful Story Search Reading Scheme, or two free taster days for teachers on November 10 and 18, contact Rita Shaw on 01254 678678 ex 255 or fax 01254 680429.

Book Reviews: Pupils' personal view on the written word

THE GRAVEDIGGERS by J H Brennan (Mammoth, £2.99)

THE Gravediggers are a band led by Andy. Sandra is also a member of the band and she and Andy get on well together. The band is on the brink of getting an amazing recording contract with an up and coming recording company.

But the only cloud on the horizon is Aaron, the band's singer, who is too friendly with Sandra for Andy's liking. Apart from this, there's something rather sinister about Aaron. There is a lot of suspense in the story but, of course, all is revealed in the end.

I really enjoyed this book because there is something happening all the way through. I think other young readers will enjoy the book just as much as I did and, like me, once you get your head into it you just won't want to take it out.

Asif Patel, aged 13, Rhyddings High School, Oswaldtwistle

LISTEN TO THE DARK by Maeve Henry (Mammoth, £3.99)

THIS is mainly the story of one boy, Mark Robinson, and the rather sad and dramatic things that happen to him and his family. His dad and mum don't seem really interested in Mark and won't even allow him to take up music. He discovers from his grandmother that he has a sister Lucy who is brain damaged and is being cared for in a home. Then his only friend goes off with a gang of bullies. Although the book is a bit slow at the beginning, it soon gets going and then really grips you - you just can't guess what is going to happen next. In fact it is so good I would read it again and am not surprised that it was the winner of a Smarties award.

Lucy Turnbull, aged 12, Rhyddings High School, Oswaldtwistle

The aims of NIE

OUR Newspapers in Education project is a partnership between our newspaper and ELTEC (East Lancs Training and Enterprise Council) to give pupils and teachers a better understanding of business and industry and, in particular, of the newspaper industry.

For more information on any aspect of the scheme, please contact Rita Shaw, NIE co-ordinator, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn BB1 1HT.

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