Pupils from a Southend school were rewarded for their cool designs on a smart anti drugs campaign.

The 11 and 12-year-old students from Southend High School for Boys designed posters to get the anti drugs message across in the 2 Smart 4 Drugs campaign run by Essex FM in conjunction with Essex Police and Ford.

Entries for the poster competition were received from three schools - Southend High School for Boys, Southend High School for Girls and St Christopher's special school.

Police schools liaison officer PC Mick Thorp said all entries were of a very high standard.

He said: "We were very pleased with the responses - there were some very good entries and it was difficult to decide the winner.

"This particular competition certainly emphasised drug awareness."

The four winners of the competition each received a pair of tickets to the Southend v Barnet game tomorrow night, and a signed football for their school.

The winners were: Thomas Kent, William Barton, James Gilson and Aaron Liversidge.

Entrants from the other schools didn't go away empty handed. Six winners from Southend High School for Girls got four pairs of football tickets and signed A1 merchandise, and winners from St Christopher's got tickets and an Essex FM goody bag.

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