The glitz and razzmatazz of the British premiere of a film about the Cottingley fairies has scooped a top award for Bradford.

At the Yorkshire Tourist Board awards last night, the Bradford premiere of Fairytale - A True Story, held in the city last year, was awarded the White Rose Award for Tourism Event of the Year for its "significant" impact on tourism in the region.

Tourism chiefs praised the imaginative premiere, held on February 8, 1998, for "breaking away from the conventional London West End film premiere location, to become an all-day, period-themed event involving thousands of local people".

The premiere was turned into a huge day-long event which started with an Edwardian Carnival in Centenary Square and the Alhambra was turned into a fairy wonderland.

The Tourist Board said that the film - about how two Cottingley schoolgirls fooled the world with their hoax photographs of frolicking fairies in 1917 - was marketed in such a way as to encourage film makers to consider the use of the district as a location for future productions.

The award was collected by Mike Cowlam, Bradford Council marketing manager, and Robert Kandt, of the Bradford Film Office, at the ceremony held at the National Railway Museum in York.

"We knew we had put on a wonderful event but this was a surprise," said Mr Kandt today.

He dedicated the honour to all the Bradford organisations that had worked together on the day: the Odeon cinema, Alhambra Theatre, local dance schools and Cottingley First School.

"As a result of this event a lot of film people came to town and we had a 35 per cent increase in the number of inquiries to the Film Office last year," he said.

Councillor Barry Thorne, chairman of the council's leisure services committee, said today: "This prestigious award is welcome recognition for the hard work and dedication of the council-based Bradford Film Office and a host of local organisations."

Other accolades at the awards last night included: Highly Commended award in the Tourism for All section for the Vintage Railway Carriage Museum at Ingrow, Keighley, and for Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway at Skipton in the Visitor Attraction of the Year; The Marriott Hollins Hall Hotel & Country Club at Baildon was also highly commended in the Training for Tourism section; the Best Newcomer to Tourism award was won by the Coniston Hall Lodge and Restaurant at Coniston Cold, Skipton, and the Classic Car Group Ltd in Otley was also highly commended.

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