Staff from Norfolk libraries have been celebrating this week after helping hundreds of bookworms complete an annual reading challenge.

At Norwich's Millennium Library at the Forum, staff welcomed some of the children to a presentation event on Thursday and at this event, and other libraries across the county, participants of this year's Summer Reading Challenge collected certificates and medals for their hard work.

The fifteenth annual Summer Reading Challenge ran in all county council-run libraries, including mobile libraries, throughout the school holidays.

Children who took part chose and read any six books during the summer and received stickers, trading cards and other rewards at different stages of the challenge.

Those who read all six books received a medal at the end of the summer and in Norwich the chairman of Norfolk County Council, Hilary Cox, handed them out.

She said: 'If it was not for the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles bringing you to the library we would not be able to have so much fun.

'We are so lucky to have such wonderful libraries in the county.'

The theme for this year's challenge was 'Creepy House' and dozens of free events were held in all 47 council-run libraries throughout the school holidays.

The Summer Reading Challenge is a national initiative run by The Reading Agency and was set up to help children keep up their standard of reading during the long summer break as well as simply to read for fun.

The challenge is aimed at four to 12-year-olds but children who do not fall into this age bracket and want to take part are encouraged to sign up as well.

To find out where your local library is and to see what events they are organising visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/libraries.