Wharfedale Newspapers advertising staff have notched up a major award for their successful children's Christmas creation.

The Ad Attack promotion, run by the Ilkley Gazette and the Wharfedale Observer, saw schoolchildren designing and drawing the adverts for businesses in the area.

The campaign helped them to take home the outright winner prize for the Best Advertising Feature at one of the country's top awards ceremonies, which was held in Worcestershire.

Judges praised the initiative for being 'an attractive feature giving reader interest, getting help from a local school for the content'. The pupils who contributed were from Ashlands Primary School, in Leeds Road, Ilkley.

Dawn Martin, Advertising Manager of Wharfedale Newspapers, said: "This is an excellent achievement for my team, who have worked continually hard to ensure success for Wharfedale Newspapers . The fact that this involved children from a local school makes it doubly pleasing."

Advertising staff at Newsquest (Bradford), parent company of the Gazette and Observer, also owns the Telegraph & Argus, which scooped eight prizes out of 22 categories at the Newsquest awards for advertising excellence.

Newsquest is the biggest publisher of regional newspapers in England and Wales. Top award for the T&A went to its events team of Karen Young and Rosa Rudak, named Best Sales Team of the Year for their work on such popular events as the T&A's Wedding and Christmas fairs.

The judges were highly impressed with their creativity and said: "The events team has developed new revenue streams with the Christmas Fair and introduced other new initiatives. Some very innovative ideas have been created by the team.

"Their entry showed their dedication to their jobs and it can be seen that although there are only two members in the team, they have worked very hard."

The T&A also notched up the main award for its 'Leagues of Their Own' glossy magazine which profiled amateur soccer teams in the district.

The magazine was named Best Local Initiative and the judges said it was "a fantastic, original idea which could be repeated in other centres." Advertising staff were also celebrating their success in the Best Niche Standalone awards section, which saw Newsquest (Bradford) gain a commendation for its Home Cooking magazine boasting recipes and food ideas, in which Wharfedale Newspapers also played a part. Regional Managing Director of Newsquest (Bradford), Tim Blott, said: "I am delighted. I have always known that our advertising staff are the best in the country. It's great that it's now official."

John Lee, Head of Advertsing and Commercial Sales, said: "This is a great result for Newsquest (Bradford). All departments have helped contribute to this success and it is nice to be recognised by our own colleagues in the industry as a centre of excellence.

"My congratulations to everyone concerned."