BUDDING York and North Yorkshire artists are being urged to design a poster to improve voter turnout at elections.

The Electoral Commission is offering 16 to 24-year-olds the chance to win an "ibook" - a laptop computer - by designing a poster on the theme Votes Are Power.

The overall winning design will feature in The Electoral Commission's national advertising campaign and will be exhibited at the RSA and to MPs

at Westminster in April 2003.

Short-listed designs will be exhibited in public venues in Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and London.

Entrants should register by the closing date of January 31 at

www.votesarepower.com, where further information on the competition is also available.

Completed designs should be entered by February 17.

The design competition is a unique concept, aimed at 16-24 year olds, and is organised in association with the RSA (Royal Society for the Arts) and the

RCA (Royal College of Art). Competition details have been distributed to schools, colleges and universities throughout the UK. The competition is part of The Electoral Commission's voter awareness promotional campaign. Winners will receive Apple ibooks and a work placement at a leading creative agency.

Updated: 10:05 Tuesday, January 14, 2003