Parents who had their children’s book lists filled at the newsagent had their names entered into a raffle for a chance for the school to win the bear.

The four Merredin school principals assembled at the newsagent last Monday morning to draw the winners.

South Merredin principal David Watkins said he was delighted to win the bear which would likely be raffled as a school fundraiser.

A girl’s name and a boy’s name were also drawn to win secondary prizes.

Kelly Edwards from Mukinbudin District High School won the boy’s prize of a portable DVD player and Micah O’Neill from South Merredin won a Britney Spears gift pack.

Nextra Newsagent owner Shaun Morton also presented a cheque to each school for their Parents and Friends Committees, which represented $2 for every booklist supplied from that school.

He said there was a total of $530 donated to the committees, from 265 booklists of $40 or more which were submitted.

The same competition was run last year, and Mr Morton said the competition would continue for two more years as he had two more giant bears to give away.