By Stephen Cole BBC Click Online reporter

Many children nowadays are very computer literate

Research suggests under-18s often use the internet very differently from adults, who tend to use it for things such as home banking, booking flights, and shopping.

Younger people, especially teenagers, use it more for entertainment and socialising.

And they are regular users, too. In the US, for example, studies suggest they go online on average every other day.

But while there is plenty on the web specifically for the younger surfer, how much is actually created by them?

This is what the competition aims to address. It is being run by Childnet, which has been campaigning for the last 10 years to make the internet a safer place for children.

Clear and simple

Childnet's Stephen Carrick-Davies says that working closely with young people has taught them several things.

"It's so important to keep things simple. Young people don't over-complicate things.

"They keep their projects clear, and that resonates across barriers, across languages and across the world."

"The second thing we've learnt is that it's really exciting when children communicate with their peers.

2004 COMPETITION WINNERS Child Soldiers (Giving a voice to children affected by war) Cool kids for a cool climate (Young activists fighting global warming) Norfolk blurb (Safe chat, games, reviews and more)

"Of course the internet gives them that platform. They don't have to take their content from the big multinationals or corporations - they can talk and communicate in a language and style of their own.

"This is what we call the dot.hope effect of the net - where children use the medium to communicate positively."

Thirdly, Mr Carrick-Davies cites what he calls "peopleology", as opposed to technology: bringing people together to learn from each other.

"Over the last seven years of running this programme we've been in Sidney, Paris, New York, Washington... all over the world, bringing kids together, sharing each other's experiences."

Helen Penn, also from Childnet, says that as well as games sites, children are keen on communication, chat sites and messaging, where they can discuss problems.

"The internet is a way of talking to each other in a way that they can't in the classroom. They talk to each other on a very intimate level."

Although this raises potential problems, she says, it can also be a very positive experience "because it means young people are now helping each other in a way they couldn't before".