YOUNGSTERS across Darlington have been rewarded after proving themselves Summer Reading Challenge champions.

The campaign involved children aged four to 11-year-olds signing up at their local library to read six library books of their choice, collecting free stickers and other rewards along the way.

Darlington Libraries teamed up with FirstStop/BikeStop which offered a bike as a top prize and Halfords which offered a voucher as prizes for the winners, who were randomly selected from all children who completed the challenge.

The lucky winners gathered the town’s Crown Street Library to be presented with their prizes by Councillor Cyndi Hughes, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, who said: “The Summer Reading Challenge is a great way to encourage children and young people to use their libraries and read.

“Our libraries foster a love of literacy from childhood through to adulthood and as well as being a vital life skill it opens the door to many wonderful, real and imaginary worlds.

“We’re grateful to the support of FirstStop/BikeStop and Halfords and I’m delighted to present the prizes to our lucky winners, who all proved themselves reading champions as they completed the Summer Reading Challenge.”

The winners were nine-year-old Rabia Khatun, who won the bike, Conner Allen, ten, who received Halfords vouchers and Lucy Millar, eight, who won a book selection from the Library.

There were also prizes of books and a mini Bookstart Bear handed out to several nursery age winners.