WITH only two editions under their belt students from Colyton Grammar School have won a national award for their efforts.

Four representatives from the student magazine, "Seven Stripes" - so called because seven is the regulation number of stripes that should visible on a well-tied, full-length school tie - went to Stationers' Hall in London, for a gala awards ceremony.

The magazine, created entirely by the students, had been shortlisted for the national Shine School Media Awards.

The two issues gained recognition from a judging panel which included journalists from the Telegraph, Blogosphere, and the Daily Mail, as well as representatives from the Cartoon Museum, the Copyright Licensing Agency and the TES.

Content editors, Ruth Came and Megan Thornberry, and Design editors, Millie Drew and Jonathan Steward represented the magazine team, consisting of students from Year 7 through to Year 12, at the ceremony.

They said they were thrilled to be awarded a highly commended prize in the best design and layout category, with the judges commenting: "This fun, witty and imaginative entry is the quintessential student magazine.

"It is breezy and would appeal to students immediately across the board meaning there's something for everyone... This is achieved with a creative, hand-drawn style for headers and to add interest to every page that is really well-executed and consistent. A very close runner up."

However, the highlight of the day was winning the coveted best magazine award, along with £1,000 which can be used for future printing costs, and an opportunity for three students to attend a day's workshop with the Times Educational Supplement.

The team were particularly pleased with the judges' comments, they said, because they perfectly encapsulated what the magazine had been aiming to achieve.

Seven Stripes was the unanimous winner and was widely complimented by the judges.

A spokesman for the competition said: "With the mixture of great content and a consistent, modern art direction, this excellent entry was described by our judges as 'a top quality school magazine'.

"In essence the Best Magazine award has to be given to a publication that manages to combine great content that every student would be interested in alongside a consistent design that causes readers to keep turning pages to find out what is next. Seven Stripes did that in spades - many congratulations."

English teacher, Fiona Harvey, described how proud she was of all the students, explaining how the creative, fun aspect of the magazine had made it stand out from the others in the competition.

Helped initially by journalist Lizzi Hosking, to whom the team are incredibly grateful, the students have shown great leadership, independence, and above all, a flair for written and visual communication, she said.

She said: "It is hoped that this award will encourage more students to join the team, and keep the magazine going for many more years."

The students involved are Megan Thornberry, Ruth Came, Jonathan Steward, Millie Drew, Ellen Ward, Ellen Anning, Rida Memon, Divya Srinivasan, Freya Richhold, Absana Rutherford, Jonny Cresswell, Megan Cox, Hannah Wright, Milly Kendall, Josie Cathcart, Marie Barreto de Toit, Lamb Chen, Gracie Siggers, Amelia Brown, Rose Clarke, Mahima Nayak, Lyra Vincent, Isabella Tiddeman and Maya Heuer-Evans.