TEN A-level students have won through to the national final of a competition organised by the European Youth Parliament.

And if they beat the opposition in York in September, they will represent the UK at the Parliament either in Vienna in October or Istanbul next April.

The students from the Bury College's Stand centre achieved success by writing a collaborative essay on how to reduce discrimination.

The EU competition is supported in Bury by Euro MP Gary Titley, and the students were supervised by college tutor Tania Exley and student liaison officer David Mottershead.

The winning essay suggested ways in which the EU could introduce laws and educational programmes to help reduce inequality resulting from age, sex and social class.

Hundreds of institutions entered the competition and just 14 were chosen to compete in York.

Bury College is the only further education college in the country to have won through: the majority of the other finalists are sixth-form or private schools from the South of England.

Stephanie Nixon, college press officer, said: "We are really proud of our students' achievement. It is enormously encouraging to have the calibre of our students and the standards of teaching endorsed at national level.

"If our students are selected to represent Great Britain at the nine-day session in Vienna or Istanbul, it would be a wonderful experience for them, and to have the UK represented in the European Youth Parliament by a team from Bury would be great for the town."

The essay writing team consisted of Richard Hayward, John Law, Emma Sweeney, Naomi Grimshaw, Sara Beck, Stuart Lavin, Stuart Martin, Neil Clough, Aaron Field and Michael Palin. The final three are unable to make the trip to York, and have been replaced.

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