IT is Monte Carlo or bust this weekend for a team of North-East designers shortlisted for an industry award.

Staff from Sumo, in Newcastle, are travelling all expenses paid to Monte Carlo, in the hope of picking up a McNaughton Award.

Sumo managing director Jim Richardson said: "Beating off competition from some of the UK's big names to get through to the finals is a great achievement in itself.

"It would really be the icing on the cake to bring back a winner's trophy to the North-East.

"Having the standard of our work rated highly by our peers is a fantastic boost for the team, and for clients who put their faith in our ability to come up with outstanding work on their behalf."

Sumo's clients include Barclays Bank, Codeworks, Northern Film and Media and Durham City Arts.

The McNaughton awards were set up ten years ago to recognise and reward excellence in design and print among the UK's creative companies. More than 1,000 entries were received for this year's awards.

One of the two pieces of nominated work by Sumo was a design for a book of five short stories, commissioned by New Writing North.

The book engages the reader by gradually unfolding as the stories are read to form a piece of table sculpture.