By Jonathan BarnesTWO schoolgirls besotted with the boy band Busted have won a national contest to design a website about their favourite pop stars.Rachel Stewart and Chloe Pryke, both from Needham Market, scooped the top prize in a competition to encourage girls to get involved with technology.

By Jonathan Barnes

TWO schoolgirls besotted with the boy band Busted have won a national contest to design a website about their favourite pop stars.

Rachel Stewart and Chloe Pryke, both from Needham Market, scooped the top prize in a competition to encourage girls to get involved with technology.

They produced a website dedicated to the chart-topping pop group featuring colour pictures, facts and tributes.

The competition, called Itbeat, was organised by e-skills, an organisation which aims to help people build their IT skills.

It launched the contest following concerns not enough young women were using the internet or looking at careers in the technology world.

Girls between the ages of 11 and 15 were invited to enter the competition and judges selected 300 of the best entries.

Chloe, 13, and Rachel, 12, who both go to Needham Market Middle School, were picked as winners of the UK Technical 11-12 years award.

Rachel, of Lilac Walk, said: “My dad told me about the competition and I went onto the website and put mine and Chloe's names down.

“We worked on Microsoft Front Page to put it together and got the information off the internet. It took about a month to do, working after school and on weekends.”

She said they chose to create a website about Busted because they “loved their music and everything about them” and wanted to pay tribute to their favourite pop group.

“I was really happy when I found out we had won. I thought it was just a bit of fun and I didn't think there was a chance we would win it,” said Rachel.

“I enjoy working on the internet and I've started other websites about pop stars and my friends. It's good fun.”

The girls received a trophy and a plaque for their success and will also get tickets for the premiere of a top film in London.

Busted, currently at number one in the charts with their single You Said No, have strong East Anglian connections.

Charlie Simpson, 17, from Woodbridge, while James Bourne, 19, comes from Southend. The trio is completed by Matt Jay, 19, from Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey.

The girls' Busted website can be found at www.itbeat.com/finalists/sites/cloandrach/index.html.

jonathan.barnes@eadt.co.uk