IT was third time lucky for an interactive art website for schoolchildren that has won a Bafta award.

County Durham-based artisancam.org.uk won the honour in the EA British Academy Children’s Awards after being nominated twice previously.

The free website, which features leading artists including Antony Gormley and Gordon Cheung, encourages children to get involved in artistic activities.

Keith Alexander, director of Artistsatwork Limited, the Barnard Castle company behind the website, was in Berlin last night to attend the MEDEA Awards, recognising excellence and innovation in the use of media in education.

ArtisanCam is one of only six finalists to be nominated for the overall prize, out of more than 100 entries from 25 different countries.

Before leaving for Germany, Mr Alexander said: “It was a huge achievement just to be nominated for a Bafta, so it is completely overwhelming to have actually won it. We are still in a state of shock.

“We’re a very small team and we were up against big production companies with much greater resources, so it’s a fantastic achievement.”

The company won its award in the learning-primary category of the awards, which recognise excellence in children’s film, television and online.

The awards ceremony took place at the London Hilton in Park Lane, where guest presenters included Geri Halliwell and Dannii Minogue.

Mr Alexander said: “I set out to create a website that would inspire young artists of the future and give teachers the confidence to be creative in the classroom.

“Thanks to the work of our innovative team, primary schoolchildren in the North- East and across the UK can now gain free unparalleled access to the world of contemporary visual art and I am very proud ArtisanCam has been recognised by the British Academy in this way.”

With Artisancam, teachers can make use of online classroom workshops, with masterclasses led by an artist.

Activities range from sculpting and painting to sewing and jewellery-making.

As well as watching from their computer screens, children can ask questions in live web interviews.

ArtisanCam is delivered by a partnership of Artistsatwork Ltd, Notion 23 and Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online, one of ten regional broadband consortia providing broadband technology and educational content for schools in England.