THE culture of Aesthetica is filtering down to children in York.

A pupil's version of Aesthetica Magazine, the quarterly York-based art and culture publication, is already wowing the nation.

Called Little A Magazine, it is being run in conjunction with Canon Lee School, York, and funded by Arts Action York.

The publication has even attracted the attention of The Times Education Supplement as well as North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP).

Now Cherie Federico and Dale Donley, who started Aesthetica in 2002 when they were students, and nurtured it into a national leader in the cultural arts, with 10,000 readers per issue, are pitching for the title of Best Business and Education link in The Press Business Awards, 2006.

New Yorker Cherie has also been nominated for the Young Business Entrepreneur of the Year.

Aesthetica is described as a "creative arts organisation" and with the help of three permanent staff, six interns and 30 volunteers at its base in the Fishergate Centre, its flagship magazine is supported by the Arts Council England and recognised as the fastest-growing literary and arts magazine in the UK.

It also has 1,500 subscribers to a free online newsletter, has managed research projects for the City of York Council and Nottingham City Council, co-ordinated more than 40 community events such as Live Outside and Speakers' Corner, and supported festivals such as the Over Fifties' Festival and York Live.

The successful "mini magazine" venture at Canon Lee resulted in the SS Robin Gallery in London jointly running a two-day residential course in London for the young editors and designers of the Little A Magazine.

Now they intend to expand the new pupils' magazine to ten schools over the next academic year.

Cherie said: "The Little A Magazine incorporates communication skills, IT skills, positive risk-taking as well as negotiation skills, which enrich students' lives after school as they move towards college and university."