Children at Falklands Island community school, last year’s winners of the overseas section, thought they’d easily scoop the competition when Prince Charles arrived on the island and they were able to report his visit.

But security-conscious army bomb disposal experts confiscated their entry until the Prince departed, leaving Falklands Focus scrambling for the deadline.

And at Bishop Stopford school in Kettering, Northants, pupils arrived on the day to find the gates locked because of a gas leak. Then the emergency became front-page news.

Triumph won over adversity again for 12-year-old Louise Bunting, a pupil at Claremont high school in East Kilbride, Scotland. Louise broke her arm while researching a story, but still insisted on taking part.

This year 794 entries - 15 per cent more than last year - were received from all over the UK and Europe and as far away as Mexico and Singapore.

Entries were diverse, including exclusive interviews with boxer Chris Eubank and Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, a feature on Kurdish refugees and a report on an oil rig in Khazakstan. For the first time this year schools were allowed to post entries on the Internet. Almost a quarter did so.

For more information about TES Newspaper Day see the TES website: info@newsday.co.uk