YOUNG writers and designers wowed journalists who visited Great Sankey High School's newspaper day.

Gifted and talented pupils from year nine were chosen to take part in the exercise, which gave them the chance to produce the front and back pages of a tabloid or broadsheet newspaper.

And at the end of the day, Warrington Guardian reporter Alison Klabacher and photographer Darren Tudor went into school to judge the finished products.

Alison said: "The ideas that the pupils had and the work that they produced was fantastic and it was obvious that they had put a lot of hard work into what they were doing.

"All the entries were impressive so it was difficult to choose a winner."

Joachim Rea, Rachel Petit, Jessica Loukaides, Adam Gardner and Nicola Lister, who called their newspaper The Informative and chose to write about the controversial SATS exams for their front page story, were crowned editors of the day.

Kerry Hogan, English teacher, said: "We wanted to really stretch these pupils and give them an insight into the media industry."

And Lisa Hirani, the school's community co-ordinator, added: "The media plays such a huge part in our daily lives, it is important that pupils learn how the industry works and how language skills are essential."