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Kenny's cartoon is good enough to eat(Hull Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Owning a gerbil would seem an unlikely path to making it big in television. Yet for teenager Chris Harrison, his pet Kenny was all the inspiration he needed. Chris, of Burstwick, near Hedon, created a cartoon based on his gerbil's imagined exploits. The character was entered into a competition run by the Government to encourage children to eat healthily. To Chris' amazement, he beat 3,000 other entrants from across the country. Now animated Kenny appears in an advert that will be screened for the first time this week. Gerbil Tails, broadcast on the Nickelodeon channel, sees Kenny waiting for a nutritious and healthy lunch, only to be given chips by his owner. In a fit of rage, he breaks out of his cage and explains to young viewers that healthy eating is the reason he is a fit and active gerbil. Chris, 13, a student at South Holderness College, said: "I can hardly explain the feeling of winning. It's great, fantastic, brilliant. "I'm sure Kenny is happy too. I would never think of feeding him junk food as I know it would make him fat and unhappy, but lots of people eat like this everyday. "The best bit about winning was getting to see the animators turn my idea into a real storyboard. "I visited them at their studios and they gave me loads of advice about animation. "I really enjoyed working on my entry and wanted to show what food was healthy and what is not. "It's a simple thing but it's what kids my age need to know." The Animunch competition, organised by the Department for Education and Skills, challenged teenagers to create their own characters and a plot for a 30- second advertisement illustrating how eating healthy is fun. The competition was backed by Liverpool captain and England footballer Steven Gerrard and Olympic gold medal-winning athlete Paula Radcliffe. Schools minister Jacqui Smith was among the first the congratulate Chris. Describing the cartoon as excellent work, she said: "I'm sure his cartoon will help inform young people about healthy living. "Communication with young people is not always easy and they must sometimes feel they are constantly being bombarded with information from adults. "That is why it is great we have asked young people themselves to design this advertisement, as they know better than anyone what is likely to work." Peter Drake, creative director at broadcaster Nickelodeon UK, said: "We had such a huge response to Animunch. Youngsters clearly spent a lot of time on their entries, which made it a tough competition to judge. "However, we loved Chris' entry as it was well thought out, well illustrated and informative and above all it had us in stitches." [email protected] Links Five a Day www.5aday.org Nickelodeon http://nickelodeon.co.uk Department for Education and Skills www.dfes.gov.uk |