DATELINE: 14th December 2000

TOP MARKS
Nine children from south-west Cornwall were rewarded with try-dives as Bubblemakers (PADI's pool try-dive scheme for youngsters) after coming out tops in a competition for sealife paintings run by the dive training organisation.
Mike George, of PADI agent Undersea Adventures, posed the painting challenge after meeting some 500 children from the Penzance area and giving them a talk to provide an impression of the marine life to be found off Cornwall's shores, as part of PADI's Project AWARE marine education scheme.
Each local primary school submitted the best two paintings from its pupils and, in turn, Undersea Adventures selected its favourites.
There were some imaginative strokes of the brush, and the top nine shortlisted junior painters showed equal panache when they were treated to their first-ever scuba experience by Undersea Adventures Training Director Carol George, in the pool of Penzance's St Mary's RC Primary School.
Outright winner of the painting competition was 11-year-old Karenza Torrie from Mousehole School, for her picture depicting a busy group of marine animals.

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