More youngsters have been nominated for our prestigious sports award.

They are among those competing to be named the Keighley News/Taywood Homes Sporting Personality of the Month.

One of the nominees is Lucy Hurst from Haworth. Lucy has achieved both national and European success since she took up competitive diving and was a monthly winner in our competition last year.

The 15-year-old pupil at Skipton Girls' High School has been a regular member of the Great Britain squad for the last two years, as well as competing for the City of Leeds Diving Club.

The lengths she has gone to in the training pool have paid handsome dividends for Lucy, who retained her position as British champion for highboard in her age group at this year's national championships.

As well as retaining the title she won last year, Lucy also finished second in the one-metre springboard and fourth in the three-metre event. At an international meeting in Germany this year she finished fourth on the highboard and fifth on the one-metre board. Lucy has also enjoyed success at the European Junior Championships in Belgium.

Her mum Ruth says: "Lucy travels about 80 miles daily between school and training at Leeds, and sometimes 120 miles daily when doing early mornings.

"She loves her sport and is also doing very well at school. To do this she has to be very organised and dedicated as she trains four evenings and at weekends."

If she is successful, Lucy will put the £100 prize money towards the cost of travelling to competitions abroad.

our other nominee this week is a youngster who is adept at scoring both runs and goals. Rukhsana Hussain has won rave reviews for her performances on both the cricket field and football pitch.

Since she took up cricket, the youngster has demonstrated a natural talent with the bat and ball which has won her a place in the Yorkshire Under-17 squad.

Rukhsana started her competitive career two years ago with the Bradford women's team, reaching the final of a national tournament last year.

She has also captained Keighley's Oakbank School team to numerous victories, and at the NatWest National Indoor Cricket competition at Headingley she took a hat-trick of wickets against an all-boys team.

Her scoring record on the football pitch is equally impressive, and as a member of Bradford City women's team she was involved in a nail-biting cup final penalty shoot-out which ended in victory.

Her father Mahmood says: "We feel that she doesn't just play for the team, but that she also likes to entertain the crowd. She really is passionate about every sport. Her biggest ambition is to play cricket for Yorkshire and England, and she is already halfway to fulfilling her dream."

The talented youngster also finds time to play hockey and netball for Bradford and tennis for Riddlesden, as well as taking part in charity sporting events.

If she wins, Rukhsana will spend the prize money on sports equipment.

The competition is being sponsored by Taywood Homes. By December we will have six monthly winners, from whom a winner will be selected as our annual champion. To nominate someone for the award, send a letter of no more than 200 words outlining the young person's achievements and how they would spend the prize money. They should be aged 16 or under. We welcome all nominations, and please include a photograph if possible. Youngsters nominated previously this year will automatically be considered.

Nominations should be addressed to: Taywood Search for a Star, Keighley News, 80-86 North Street, Keighley, BD21 3AG. Closing date for this month is September 28.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.