A DARLINGTON teenager is the envy of his school mates after he picked up a top science award.

Adrian Robinson, 14, was entered by Hurworth Comprehensive School into the Spotlight Scientist of the Year Awards.

The awards are run by school publisher Stanley Thornes, who produce books and learning materials for science courses.

Adrian, who lives in Hurworth, had been studying a module on space as part of his key stage three studies. For the competition he decided to investigate sunspots and used his dad's telescope to project images of the sun on to a large sheet of paper.

He then drew the sun and its sunspots and showed his class, with a sequence of drawings, how the sunspots were rotating on the sun's surface.

Competition judges were so impressed that they awarded Adrian a Spotlight Scientist of the Year Award - one of a handful given out nationally from more than 1,500 entries.

His science teacher John Morris said: "He has shown that he has the qualities needed to go in and do very well in the field of science and more specifically astronomy."