STAND by for Supershare - the exciting investment competition that will have the whole of North Yorkshire riveted and ready for big money action.

This year we are hoping to attract even more than the record 27,500 entries we achieved five years ago when competitors jostled for copies of the Evening Press. Keep an eye out for that first entry form on Friday, February 27, and daily entries can be made throughout March.

At stake will be a first prize of £2,000 in cash, with a runner-up prize of £500, plus daily prizes worth £50. And, yes, there's also that booby prize...

Sponsored again by Walsh Lucas & Co, the long-established independent financial advisers in Micklegate, York, Supershare will allow the man or woman in the street to conduct a dream investment free of risk and free of charge.

Entrants use a notional £10,000, to work out their own portfolio of share investments from a list of 32 national and well known regional companies.

On your entry form - and you can submit as many as you want - you allocate your dream £10,000 to the companies of your choice.

This buys you shares at their closing price on the day that you enter. Then, every day for the rest of the competition, thanks to our sophisticated computer systems, your portfolio is revalued in line with the movements of the market and the top 100 will be published every evening so that you can see where YOU are in the race and either revel in the glory or submit more entries!

And if you are at the top of that day's list, expect to get that daily prize worth £50.

Full results will be announced in the Evening Press on Saturday, April 4.

Mike Lucas, principal of Walsh Lucas & Co said: "We are delighted once again to sponsor Supershare. Not only is it a great talking point and loads of fun but also gives everyone terrific insight into the workings of the stock market. I can't wait for it to start."

But you know nothing about the Stock Market, you wail? Fear not. In the run-up we will publish our own simply-written cut-out-and-keep guide on each of the chosen companies, with help from top stockbrokers Redmayne Bentley, whose Leeds office will keep a running commentary on the Stock Markets.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.