THE hard work of students has been recognised with a prestigious national award.

Members of Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College’s Interact Club are celebrating winning the InteractTrophy from the Rotary Great Britain and Ireland (RGBI) for the Best Project, highlighting the the group’s commitment and innovation to local community projects.

Over the last year, students have been committed to taken part and designed a range of community-based activities which include: delivering Christmas gifts to over 65’s in the local community, providing Easter Eggs for families at Darlington Women’s Refuge together with recipes for healthy eating, a cup cake sale to fund raise for the Alzheimer’s Society and a litter pick in Stanhope Park Litter pick in conjunction with Friends of the Earth.

It was also the group’s magazine, I Promise, in which the students outlined their commitment to helping others in the coming year which impressed the judges.

QE Interact president Jessica Elmore said: “We are delighted to receive this award because it recognises the work we have done this year. It has involved a lot of hard work by a great many people but at the same time has been both fun and rewarding from a personal point of view.”

The students will travel to Birmingham in May to receive the award.