COULD you make yourself look like Harry Potter or one of his wizard friends or foes?

That was the challenge we set young readers when we launched a lookalike competition during our special Evening Press Harry Potter Week.

Each entrant had to choose a character from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and get their picture taken.

The winner, who receives £100 to spend on Harry Potter goodies at Woolworths, is Thomas Slater, aged six, from Kelfield, who dressed up as the bespectacled hero himself, clutching a Hedwig

the owl lookalike and a wand. In second place was Jessica Dawson, aged seven, from Haxby Road, York, who dressed up as Harry's book-loving friend Hermione.

She wins two GNER First Class tickets from York to Kings Cross, the station where Harry catches the Hogwarts Express in the book and film.

Five runners-up receive a CD of the film soundtrack.

They are Caitlin Armstrong, seven, of Rawcliffe, as Hermione; Callum Horn, seven, of Huntington Road, as Harry; Josh Logan, six, of Copmanthorpe, as Ron; James Norton, eight, of Strensall, as Harry and Faatima Zannar, ten, of Huntington as Professor Snape. The competition was set at the end of our special Harry Potter Week, which saw another five Evening Press winners getting to see the smash hit film before any of their friends at Warner Village in Clifton Moor.

The film sold out for days after it opened, with cinemas still showing it on several screens, and merchandise is flying out of the shops with Harry Potter toys looking set to be the biggest seller this Christmas.

Updated: 11:45 Saturday, December 08, 2001