Twin sisters won joint first prize in the 2001 Darlington Festival Junior Speech Championship.

Sixth form sisters Kizzy and Zena Kukreja, who go to Polam Hall School in Darlington, tied for joint first place for those aged sixteen and under.

Four more Polam Hall pupils won four more first places and other girls returned with a variety of awards.

Amy Parkin won the under-15 sight reading, Hannah Elliott won the under-17 Shakespeare, Christina Les was second in the under-17 prose reading class and Nicola Goddard was second in the story telling class.

Headteacher at the school, Helen Hamilton, said: "This year's Darlington Festival has been a tremendous success for the girls at Polam Hall.

"We are delighted that they have done so well against such stiff competition."