BUDDING young journalists at a primary school in St Neots have proved they are among the best young hacks in the country after dominating a national competition. Pupils at St Mary s Church of England Primary School won seven out of 10 categories – finishi

BUDDING young journalists at a primary school in St Neots have proved they are among the best young hacks in the country after dominating a national competition.

Pupils at St Mary's Church of England Primary School won seven out of 10 categories - finishing second in the remaining three - in the Making the News East of England Broadband network contest.

The students, who were entered into the 10-and-under age group, won £3,925 worth of prizes for their school.

Headteacher Mary Barnard told The Hunts Post she was thrilled with the children's performance.

"It is brilliant that the children did so well. It was all the pupils' own work and they all worked really hard on their stories.

"Hopefully we have helped them towards realising their writing potential."

Schools were asked to submit news stories, either from individuals or small teams, into 10 different categories testing the youngsters' talents for writing on a numbers of subjects from food and music to the environment, field trips and education.

St Mary's students swept the board in the competition, taking the lion's share of the prizes and impressing the competition organisers.

A spokesman for E2BN said the results were "a great testament to the hard work of both teachers and pupils".

The St Neots school walked away with prizes including a cheque for £925, which will be used to purchase iPods and Apple computers, and £3,000 worth of computer software.

INFORMATION: Making the News is a free on-line publishing system, created and hosted by the Regional Broadband Consortia, which allows pupils to research, write and publish news reports, interviews, articles and blogs.

To read the winning stories visit www.mtncomp.e2bn.net