THREE North-East community groups yesterday shared a £5,000 prize fund for their outstanding Internet sites.

Entries flooded in for the Best Community Website competition for sites set up through the CommuniGate initiative, run by Newsquest (North East) Ltd, publishers of The Northern Echo.

Hundreds of nominations for a total of 54 websites were received for the competition, run by CommuniGate and Barclays Bank.

Lanchester Community Centre's site was named the winner, receiving a £3,000 cheque.

Shadforth Women's Institute and Northern Pulse websites were highly commended by the judges, and each received £1,000.

They were presented with their prizes in a ceremony at The Northern Echo head office, Darlington.

The three were unanimous choices from a shortlist of six, with judges agreeing they excelled in their content and how effective they were in promoting their group or charity.

Karen Maughan, CommuniGate community web editor, said the entries were very impressive.

Stella McRae, of Barclays, said: "We were impressed by the high standard of entries, but these three are very worthy winners."

Christine Monaghan, who has run the Lanchester site since its creation in 2001, said the group hoped to use the money for a new computer for its drop-in centre.

"I'm amazed we've won, it's very unexpected," she said. "The response to the website has been excellent.

"A lot of groups in the village have been keen to get involved, and we've received e-mails from around the world, including a man in India asking if anyone from the lace-making group was available to teach them."

Northern Pulse will donate its prize money towards its academy for 11 to 16-year-olds in Newcastle, which opens next March.

Margaret Nancarrow, president of Shadforth WI, said: "Often at fundraising events we may raise £10, so £1,000 is fantastic. We're very grateful."