ARE you mad about football and planning to go World Cup Crazy?

Do you love playing, or watching and talking about the game? Well how do you fancy writing about football to win yourself a great prize of The Ultimate Football World Cup 1998 book including a free wallchart to fill in so you can follow the action as it happens.

The book, published by Dorling Kindersley at £9.99, is written by Ivor Baddiel, football writer and broadcaster and brother of comedian David.

Packed with information on national teams and top players and illustrated with dramatic colour photographs, the book is a must for any football fan. It even includes tips to make you a better player.

In addition, our sports editor, Neil Bramwell will award a copy of the official FIFA World Cup Super Stars booklet to the best written sentence in any entry.

So how can you win copies of these great books? You can enter one or both competitions launched today for eight to 15 year olds.

Become a sports reporter and write a truthful but interesting account of a recent match (football or any other sport) played by your school team.

Your report should be about 150 to 200 words long and written in the snappy style of sports journalists.

Look through our newspaper for ideas on this.

Ask a teacher to sign your report, saying that your account is your own work and is truthful.

OR

As a football fan, Write a letter telling us about your all-time favourite football player, and why, in your opinion, he was or is the greatest. Write about 150 to 200 words long and ask an adult to sign saying that it is your own work.

Entries to both competitions will be judged in two age groups of eight to l1 year olds and 12 to 15 year olds.

Entries for both competitions must be received by Saturday, May 23, so start writing now.

Make sure you include your name, age and school or home address and telephone number.

Send entries to NIE World Cup Competition at the address on this page.

Time running out on chance of £500 prize

COULD your school use a £500 cash prize offered by East Lancashire Health Authority for competitions to make the 50th anniversary of the NHS?

The competitions to design a poster or produce a newspaper celebrating the occasion were launched in January with a closing date of June 1. So if your primary, secondary or special school is planning to win this superb prize (plus £100 vouchers for winning pupils), don't forget to get those entries in.

Entries should be handed in or posted to Lancashire Evening Telegraph offices at High Street, Blackburn; Keirby Walk, Burnley; Edgar Street, Accrington or Railway Road, Darwen. Further details of the competitions can be obtained from Judith Roberts, East Lancashire Health Authority Press Officer, 31-33 Kenyon Road, Lomeshaye Estate, Nelson, BB9 5SZ, tel: 01200 441776, fax number 01200 440122.

Pupils in the picture

YEAR 6 pupils at Brookside School,Clitheroe, were are in focus when it came to photography .

Freelance photographer John Barry showed them photographs as they'd never seen them before.

The day started with a brief look at the history of photography, beginning with Mr Henry Fox Talbot.

This was followed by the pupils learning to pose their friends for portraits and to take the perfect picture. The photos were then developed by the pupils, with help from Mr Barry, in a dark room created using black bin liners and sticky tape.

To sum up the day, one pupil said: "It was a most enjoyable day and very interesting. Many thanks to Mr Barry and Mrs Shaw for giving up their time for year 6." Leonie Smith, Rachel Rix and Vicky Parker.

Newspapers in a day!

PRIMARY school pupils rose to the challenge to create newspapers in one day when they took part in our NIE Deadline activity. All junior pupils at Roughlee CEP School were given news gathering and page designing assignments using copies of our newspaper as their resource. Four teams of pupils, assisted by NIE co-ordinator Rita Shaw and the school's headteacher Carolyn Potts, raced to meet deadlines to complete their pages. They voted the day "very busy but really interesting."

As part of their four-week investigation into the world of newspapers, the class is also working through our Story Search reading scheme and planning a visit to see how our newspaper is really made.

Story Search material and supporting activities are offered to any school in East Lancashire; for more details contact Rita Shaw on 01254 678678 or fax number 01254 680429.

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