YOUNG artists proved inspired by an Oxford competition to come up with some ugly work.

Their ideas impressed judges for Oxford University - and are about to be transformed into new gargoyles for the historic Bodleian Library.

The nine winners of the Millennium, Myths and Monsters competition will have their designs turned into real gargoyles by a stonemason before autumn next year.

The nine new gargoyles will grace the northwest face of the famous 17th century library, replacing ones that have crumbled over the decades.

Kerrie Chambers, 14, a pupil at Bicester Community College, modelled a mask of General Pitt Rivers, of Oxford museum fame, out of clay.

She said: "I worked from a sketch and it took me all day - I really enjoyed doing it, but it's a bit of a shock to be chosen."

Other winners included Ben Bryant, 13, a pupil at Abingdon School, whose design was inspired by a local tale of a wild boar choking on a book.

Alex Sermon, 14, a pupil at John Mason School, in Abingdon, was chosen for his Tolkien-inspired design, while George O'Connor was inspired by the dodo in the University Museum of Natural History in Parks Road. George, 11, from Summertown, Oxford, a pupil at The Cherwell School, who drew the dodo reading Darwin's The Origin of Species, said: "It's great to be one of the winners - I was trying to make an ironic joke."

The competition attracted hundreds of designs.

Sculptor Martin Jennings, whose statue of poet John Betjeman was recently unveiled at St Pancras station, London, was on the judging panel.

He said: "The richness and breadth of the designs was a delight to see. Children have such vivid imaginations and are a marvellous source for inspired ideas."

The other winners are: Hannah Duckworth, 12, from Oxford, for Green Man, Henry Chadwick, 12, for Three Men in a Boat, Eva Masmanian, 13, from Oxford, for Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Alfie Turner, from Longworth, for Sir Thomas Bodley, and Hayley Williams, from Abingdon, for Aslan the Lion.