TWO groups of Craven youngsters are leading the way with innovative ways to stamp out crime.

The South Craven Youth Action Group and the THYNC project's peer education group won first and third place respectively in North Yorkshire Crimebeat awards.

The Crimebeat scheme encourages and supports groups of young people who get involved with crime reduction projects and create safer communities. They in turn pass on the benefits of their work to their peers and the wider community.

It is a partnership between The High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire County Council's Education Services and each year the county's eight youth action officers are asked to send three entries each.

Local youth action officer PC Neil Hargreaves said: "This year we have been very successful in Craven and we have two projects that have finished in the winning places."

South Craven Youth Action Group's Party in the Park Project won first place and £500.

This group of young people has taken ownership of the problems of vandalism, graffiti and broken play equipment in Sutton Park.

They have worked with older people, bridging an age gap, to pick up litter, repair equipment and repaint amenities creating a facility of which local people can be proud.

The award was received by Stephanie Woof, Fellina Judson, Jody Smith, Jessica Jackson, Eve Finlayson, and Emily Robinson on behalf of the group.

In third place and receiving £125 was the Training and Housing for Young People in North Craven (THYNC) scheme, which took a drama production tackling issues of homelessness, drugs and relationships out to other young people in the district.

The four group members, who have all experienced difficulties in their own lives, wrote and performed the show.

They reached more than 700 primary school children at Craven's Crucial Crew event and more than 600 teenagers and Aireville and South Craven Schools' crime awareness days.

The award was received by Katie Draper, Miquel Llobera and Tracy Longton. The fourth member of the group, Jeanette Byles, was unable to attend.

High Sheriff of North Yorkshire Simon Bostock presented the cheques and certificates. He said that his duties were mainly ceremonial but were also concerned with crime prevention and the application of the law.

Crimebeat is the High Sheriff's charity and Mr Bostock said that taking part in crime prevention projects was a good thing to do in every community and he hoped that more people would show similar initiative next year.

Second place went to the Buddy Project of Scarborough, which tackled bullying.