STAFF and students at a Worcester DJ academy have proved they are the kings of spin - after being nominated for a prestigious national award.

DJ Academy is managed by award-winning DJ Andy King, of Damaskfield, Warndon Villages, Worc-ester and has been running for more than four years.

And it has now been nominated by none other than industry publication DJ Magazine for best DJ Academy in the country.

The academy - which started at Worcester Arts Workshop in Sansome Street and also holds sessions in the basement of Bushwackers in the city's Trinity Street - has made it to the last three, alongside big-hitters Vestax and Technics academies in London.

Andy, who was named DJ of the Year by DJ company Celestian in 1987 and 1988, said: "The academy has spread across the country since it started and we've now been nominated for this award, which is great.

"We're really up against the big names from London - it's like a little car company like Morgan up against something like Jaguar as these others have got a lot of money behind them."

Andy set up DJ Academy in 2001 to teach various aspects of DJ-ing, including beat mixing, music programming, marketing, promotion of nightclubs and gigs, tax and accounts, self-employment, how to get work and producing demo tapes and CDs.

Since then it has flourished and has had about 1,000 students through its doors, with many going on to bigger things such as Miss XS, who now DJs across the globe.

It employs about 10 professional DJs and puts on three-day 'super-skills' DJ classes also running academies in Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Cardiff, Birmin-gham and Dudley, where it holds 10-week part-time evening courses.

The academy will now find out how it fares at a special awards ceremony at the Cobden Club in London on Sunday.

Andy, who has been a DJ since the age of 14 and started the Passion and Pain club nights in Worcester 15 years ago, said: "We get people come to Worcester from all over the world to do our courses, so we're quietly confident.

"The quality of our students is second to none and we've put a lot into them."