THE search has begun to find the north west's best school volunteer working with pupils to develop their business skills.

Nominations for the Young Enterprise Business Adviser of the Year award, sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, close on March 11. The advisers are members of the local business community who spend time helping pupils at more than 300 schools to polish their business ideas and put them into practice.

Each year, Bury holds its own Young Enterprise (YE) finals involving schools and colleges which have set up their own mini-companies'.

Currently, 4,600 pupils are running 330 businesses at schools in the region. Each classroom business can nominate their adviser for the award, which will be judged on commercial success, innovation and good management.

The winner of the north west award will be chosen by Chris Curry, chief executive of YE North West and the Institute of Chartered Accountants' regional manager, Terry Cook.

The winner of the regional award, announced in June, will go forward to the national finals in a month later.