Pupils who entered a competition have proved that poster-making is a serious business.

More than 1,000 children made colourful signs for the Youth Against Racism poster competition run by the Brighton and Hove Anti-Victimisation Initiative.

The aim of the contest, launched in February, was to raise racial awareness among young people.

Schools in Brighton and Hove and Shoreham were invited to take part and entries were received from youngsters aged five to 18.

Sofia Mohamud, co-ordinator of the Racial Harassment Forum, said: "We were looking for posters that were clear with a simple message.

"It was really good to see the word 'bullying' coming up as this is an issue we need to tackle in our campaign.

"It was also a preventative exercise. If one child can pass the anti-racist message to another like a domino effect, then that is great."

Sian McKenzie, eight, a pupil at Somerhill Junior School, Hove, scooped top prize. Her poster will be displayed on buses and in schools.

She said: "I was very glad to win. I did not expect it because I was competing with 16-year- olds."

A panel of eight judges included the managers of WH Smith and Dixons in Brighton. They donated Playstations, video recorders, DVD players and Harry Potter gifts as prizes for Sian and ten runners-up.

Dixons manager Steve Bevan said: "We thought it was very important to get involved in an initiative which affects the whole community.

"The standard of entries has been amazing. Racism is something the kids are very aware of and they want to help to stop it."

The Anti-Victimisation Initiative was set up in October 2000 and is the first of its kind in the UK.

Eight groups are involved in the project, which works with ethnic and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and domestic violence victims.

The groups include Sussex Police, the East Sussex Probation Service and the Brighton and Hove Domestic Violence Forum.

Since the project was launched there has been a 400 per cent rise in the reporting of homophobic attacks, a 73 per cent rise in reporting domestic violence incidents and a 71 per cent increase in the reporting of racist attacks.

Project manager Jonny Aldis said: "We have shown how something that can be quite touchy-feely actually has real teeth."