YORK'S first-ever litter champions have been rewarded for helping to keep the city clean.

The winners of City of York Council's summer clean-up campaign were presented with prizes, won after they gained raffle tickets for putting their rubbish in waste bins.

Prizes, including tickets to York Racecourse, a complimentary lunch at the Royal York Hotel, a family ticket to York Minster and a First (York) monthly bus ticket were presented by the executive member for environment and development, Coun Andrew Waller.

Three of the seven winners have now received their prizes. Another draw will take place in September.

Karen Baddeley, of the council's Street Environment Team, said: "It's really nice to be able to thank people for getting rid of their litter properly.

"By using a dual approach - fining people who drop litter and rewarding those who use bins - we hope to make a tangible improvement to the way the city looks.

"It's also about changing people's habits, particularly children's, so they learn the right way to deal with waste.

"We'll be going back into schools at the start of the new term to continue educating young people about litter and waste."

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, August 27, 2005