SEVEN students at Bishop Auckland College have been given the royal seal of approval for their efforts in tackling bullying.

The teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, were chosen to receive a Diana, Princess of Wales Anti-Bullying Award.

The group was selected in recognition for arranging an anti-bullying awareness week and working during the year to produce anti-bullying literature.

They also compiled a survey of students to find out about their experiences of bullying, collated the responses and displayed the results around the college.

In addition to this, they drafted an anti-bullying policy for the college.

Catherine Shaw, student support worker at Bishop Auckland College, who nominated the group, said: "The group members have worked very hard in their own time to raise the awareness of other young people to this issue and offer support and advice.

"They should be very proud of what they have achieved and we look forward to continuing this project into the coming year and onwards from there."