Hand-crafted candles and a coffee-afternoon and recipe book have put two groups of Highland youngsters in line for a £1,000 Scottish award.

Pupils from Kingussie High School and Plockton Primary School have won the Skene Young Entrepreneurs Award for the Highlands and Islands area and now go through to the Scottish finals. The awards are intended to introduce young people to the challenges and rewards of the world of commerce. This is the 14th year the competition has been run and organisers, the Skene Enterprise Trust, say it is going from strength to strength.

In the Secondary section of the Awards the Kingussie High School pupils established their own company, Exposure, designing and hand-carving their own candles. This meant getting to grips with administering their manufacturing and distribution systems and even attending a craft trade fair in Inverness. The 'business pressures' were so realistic that at one stage a course on 'stress management' was seriously considered! Kingussie High School pupils also won the Highlands and Islands Award in 1998.

In the Primary section youngsters from classes 1 - 3 at Plockton Primary in Ross-shire, including the school's Gaelic-medium pupils, organised their own coffee afternoon in the village hall under the guise of their own company 'Kids Co'. They designed a company logo, produced advertising posters, sold tickets and organised sandwiches and baking. The company even diversified into the publishing business - producing their own recipe book. Plockton Primary won the national award in their section last year, with older pupils taking the honours. This time it was decided to let the younger classes have their chance - with equally successful results.

Because of the high standard of entries this year the judges took the step of awarding a runners-up prize, in the Secondary section, to Sanday Community School in Orkney, who produced their natural history magazine 'Word of the Wild'.

Today (Thursday, 25 May) the winning youngsters were presented with their œ200 cheques and trophies by Highlands and Islands Enterprise chairman, Dr. Jim Hunter.

Awards founder Mr Charles Skene said: "These awards are intended to introduce young people to the world of businesses - providing some valuable education, and also some fun along the way. The standard of entry in the Highlands and Islands this year is very high - demonstrating the area's entrepreneurial flair and underlining the potential which exists for the future."

The successful entries for the national awards, including Kingussie High and Plockton Primary schools, are currently being judged and the eventual winners will be presented with their œ1,000 (pounds) prize at an award ceremony to be held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the 14th of June. The national award will be presented by Nicol Stephen MSP, Deputy minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.