AT a ceremony held at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, 20 people who found jobs under the Government's New Deal employment initiative were given achievement awards.

The winners included Stephen Pope, 26, from Washington, who is a full-time coach for Sunderland Football Club's Football in the Community programme, and 58-year-old Colin Adamson, from Pallion in Sunderland. Colin spent 20 years out of work while he cared for his father, but has now secured a job in a laundry.

Also among those honoured was Ed Hownam, 60, from Sunderland, a mechanical engineer who was made redundant in 1998 and found difficulty getting another job because of his age. He retrained and now works as a gas central heating engineer.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: "The ceremony was to acknowledge their achievements in overcoming barriers and demonstrating commitment to New Deal in getting a job."

Other winners, who are all from Sunderland, were; Lucy Allan, 19, Reza Azizi, 24, Donna Marie Crossley, 23, Christopher Barella, 25, Colin Davison, 24, Michael Dickeson, 36, Robin Fleck, 23, Carlos Griffin, 23, Ali Helieli, 24, Norman Leslie, 23, William Mitchell, 49, Stephanie Rayner, 20, Maureen Robson, 48, Barry Solomon, 27, Paul Swallwell, 23, Neil Turner, 24, and Donna Marie Walker, 25