Sixteen-year-old Andrew Moore, a GCSE student at Glengormley High School, and 14-year-old William Lyons, a pupil at Rosstulla School in Jordanstown, were winners of an ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist of the Year award for their work on a section of the river near the Mossley estate.

The boys, who are both members of Threemilewater Conservation and Angling Club, earned the award after taking it upon themselves to clean up the waterway and help improve the area around it.

They worked tirelessly on the section of river, known locally as The Laid, for more than two- and-a-half years, clearing rubbish, deepening fish ponds, planting willows and adding structures to prevent erosion and encourage wildlife.

"There's a stretch of river above Mossley Hockey Club that our club owns the fishing rights to. It was a mess with litter and loads of rubbish and even car parts and things that had been dumped in it, so we decided to clean it up," Andrew explained. "We removed a lot of the litter, recycled a lot of stuff and planted trees and built pools to encourage more wildlife and fish life back into the area."

The boys, who are both keen anglers, were nominated for the award by Andrew's teacher, Mrs Savage.

"I just wrote a piece for school about what we'd done to clean the place up and Mrs Savage decided to nominate us for the award. We couldn't believe it when we won. We're both absolutely delighted," Andrew said.

"It was a lot of hard work, but it was all worth it and we're really happy to have won this award," William added.

Newtownabbey Council's Biodiversity Officer, Lindsay Matthews, said the boys thoroughly deserved their crystal award, certificates and 300 euros prize money.

"Andrew and William are both remarkable young conservationists who thoroughly deserve this prestigious recognition of their talents," she said.

James Beggs, a member of the Threemilewater Angling Club, also praised the teenagers for their efforts.

"They are two great young lads and they've done a fantastic job cleaning up that section of the river. They really do deserve their award," he told the Times.

The boys now plan to continue monitoring and developing the work already done on the river in conjunction with their fellow members of the angling club.

The ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards is an all-Ireland programme involving more than 500 schools, designed to reward the work of young people aged between 12 and 18 years who protect, conserve and enhance the environment through local projects.