REFUGEES have been the focus of a creative competition entered by schoolchildren across Hampshire.

Drawings, paintings, poems and diary entries are among the artwork submitted by pupils from 14 schools to mark Refugee Week 2004, which ended yesterday.

The 147 entries were all based on the struggle of people fleeing conflict abroad and their journey to a new home.

Every child at Langdown Infant School in Hythe took part in the challenge while a handful of pupils entered from each of the remaining schools.

Ethnic minority achievement co-ordinator Julia Longrigg, local artist Arzina Merali, and Zahira Virani, personal adviser for Connexions, judged the competition at Havant Art Centre.

They selected winners in nine categories from Foundation to Key Stage 3.

The Hampshire winners have now been entered into the regional final.

Councillor Don Allen, Hamp-shire County Council's executive member for education, said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for pupils at Hampshire schools to learn more about the issues surrounding refugees and asylum seekers and is being run in conjunction with a series of lesson plans.

"I would like to commend all those schools and pupils who have taken part in the competition and congratulate the winners. I wish them every success in the regional final."

The competition was organised by the county council's Ethnic Minority Achievement Service as part of an annual showdown co-ordinated by the South of England Refugee and Asylum Seeker Consortium.