Last updated at 19:44, Thursday, 12 July 2012

Pupils from a Workington school proved they have the voices for radio after winning a national award.

KINGS OF THE AIRWAVES: Pupils at Workington’s Stainburn School have won the Arqiva Schools Radio Station of the Year award. From left: Sam Boyd, Sam Hodgson, Liam Sharp and Lewis Maxwell

Stainburn School’s radio station won the Arqiva Schools Radio Station of the Year 2012 prize at a presentation at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.

Stainburn competed against seven other school radio stations from across the country.

It was announced as overall winner in front of MPs and radio celebrities, including Paul Gambaccini and Nicholas Parsons.

They won a trophy and certificate, and a day out at BBC Radio Cumbria will be organised.

Andrew Williamson, teacher in charge of Stainburn Radio, said: “I am proud we have achieved this.

“We started off really small and have been growing bigger and bigger.”

Stainburn Radio has been running for about four years and has 15 to 20 students who are involved. They meet after school every Monday at the school’s broadcasting room.

The material they record regularly gets played over the school’s sound system in the foyer and dining room, and is also put on as a podcast on their own radio website and on iTunes.

They play modern music, discuss local news and even do radio drama; they are working on a production of the War of the Worlds.

Lewis Maxwell, 14, who works on Stainburn Radio, said of the award: “It didn’t really sink in until we got back on the train.”

First published at 19:25, Thursday, 12 July 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk