FOUR youngsters will be helping to clean up the town with their eye-catching anti-litter posters.

The work of the four winners will now be made into large posters which will be displayed throughout the borough from next week until January.

The competition was organised by Bolton Council council in conjunction with the Bolton Evening News to put across the message "Stop the Drop" and put litter in a bin.

The winners were five-year-old Molly Hurst, seven-year-old Jordan Robinson, Catherine Parkinson, aged 10, and Yuk Kay Chan, aged 14.

Molly, of Bolton, preferred the direct approach with her colourful poster showing butterflies and birds. It showed a girl dropping litter on the ground with a boy shouting "No". The message was: "Put your litter in the bin."

The entry from Jordan, who attends St Catherine's school, Horwich, showed a girl surrounded by litter with the slogan "Stop the Drop". She also drew broken bottles and included the message: "Broken glass harms animals.

Teenager Yuk Kay, a pupil at Hayward school, Great Lever, drew a poster depicting a talking litter bin asking to be fed with litter and Catherine who attends St Peter's Smithills-Deane school went for an an environmental message showing flowers and sunshine and the message: "Keep our world clean."

Cllr Bob Howarth, leader of Bolton Council, said: "Nobody likes litter and one of the most obvious ways to help the environment is to stop dropping it. We hope this poster campaign will make a difference.

"We had a great response to this competition and the children were really imaginative. Let's listen to what they are saying -- put your litter in the bin and show pride in your town."

More than 200 colourful entries were received from children aged 15 and under who had the chance to win some fantastic prizes including a signed Bolton Wanderers football, tickets to Dick Whittington -- this year's panto at the Albert Halls -- and HMV vouchers.

The winners were presented with their prizes at the Town Hall by the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr John Walsh.

Thousands of people in the borough are already helping to tackle the litter problem through the People and Places Programme, Bolton council's environmental improvement campaign.

The scheme includes a range of initiatives encouraging positive environmental behaviour including Roadside Care, National Spring Clean, Tidy Business Awards and the Environment Challenge.