AN innovative partnership to raise standards in education has been honoured in a national awards ceremony.

Visual applications specialist Direct Visual was presented with the Videoconferencing Project of the Year Award at a ceremony in Newport, Wales.

The company was acclaimed for its involvement in the Durham ICT Testbed Project - an initiative funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to show the impact investment in ICT can have on raising standards across the curriculum.

The judges said: "Direct Visual's project is a good example of low-cost videoconferencing systems being used for the benefit of school children in a rural area."

Direct Visual equipped 11 schools in County Durham with videoconferencing systems, interactive whiteboards and plasma screens.

The links have been used to teach foreign languages, to quiz a TV star and an MP and to find out about life and culture in Tanzania.

Co-ordinator of the Durham project Phill Smith said: "This new technology is opening up a whole range of exciting opportunities."