YOUNG would-be movie makers from the Thurrock area are being challenged to take part in a competition about a vibrant new careers guide now available in secondary schools and colleges.

The This Way Up! guide is funded by the Investing in Communities programme and features more than 50 case studies to help young people in South Essex choose their future careers.

To encourage the students in the area's schools and colleges to read the guide, commissioned by Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership, the partnership is organising a competition for 14-18 year olds.

To enter, young people should make a film of no more than three minutes long. It can be an advert, drama, musical, comedy sketch or cartoon but the film makers must use the Guide and its aims as its central theme.

The competition winner will walk away with £500 for themselves and earn their school or college another £500.

Mahroof Kazi from the Partnership, who is overseeing the project, said: "We have produced the guide in a bid to help equip our young people with the skills needed to be able to fill the thousands of new jobs being generated through regeneration in the Thames Gateway."

The cash prize has been generously donated by Southend aeronautical engineers ATC Lasham after one of their apprentices featured in the careers guide.

Ian Dorling, base manager with the firm at Southend Airport, said: "It's a privilege to be part of something that will have such a great impact on young people.

"It is just what this region needs - a practical guide giving information about real people in real jobs, how they got there, what the job is actually like and how others can mirror their achievements."

Ask your Careers Officer if you can take a look at the guide, then check out the rules and regulations about taking part in the competition from the Partnership's website www.tgessex.co.uk and click on This Way Up. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 9.