A charity that offers emergency beds for the night to young homeless people is celebrating awards success.

Nightstop UK, based in Shipley, was highly commended in the UK Charity Awards.

It was up against Barnar-do's which won the category for a study into child abuse but Nightstop chief executive Greg Thomson said there were no hard feelings.

"We were up against the big boys and knew they'd win." he said. "But we came away greatly encouraged by all the interest and support we got.

"The commendation is something we will put on all our publicity now; we think it's a fantastic achievement as we are such a small organisation and it was our first time at the awards. It has lifted our profile and we have made lots of new contacts which can only be good for us and the work we do."

Celebrities including athlete Linford Christie and the BBC's Nicholas Witchell presented prizes at the ceremony in Battersea Arena, London.

Nightstop UK provides one-night stays for young homeless people in the homes of volunteers and there are now 44 schemes in the UK.

The charity won its commendation in the Advice, Support and Research category for a monitoring system it set up last year to control the quality of all the schemes running under its name every two years. Mr Thomson said: "It's like an Ofsted inspection, really. It's a way of us making sure our values and purposes are kept up to our high standards."

To find out more about Nightstop UK, call (01274) 776888.