Trinity Mirror put out a national call to staff to come forward with bright ideas in a bid to find "the next big thing."

The competition was won by web developer Louise Midgley, who works for Trinity's North-East division ncjmedia, publisher of Newcastle's Evening Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun titles.

Louise, 28, has already received a cash prize and, in true Dragon's Den style, will also win a future share of any profits from her idea.

Her winning idea - which is now live - was wikinortheast.co.uk - an online archive covering all aspects of the North-East region.

A wiki is a collaborative website or collection of webpages that allows users to create and edit their own content. The reference site Wikipedia is the best-known example.

But in addition, wikinortheast.co.uk also features up to 12 years' worth of digital archives documenting the area’s events and people that were not previously being used on ncjmedia's websites.

The company’s digital archive dates back to 1995 and also includes articles from papers such as the Gateshead Post and the Pink, which have now ceased to exist.

The ultimate aim of the project is to create an ongoing, up-to-date encyclopaedic reference tool for the North East of England, written by people from, or with a connection to, the region.

The site is arranged into seven channels: art and culture, business, environment, history and heritage, regional affairs, science and technology, and sport.

Paul Robertson, editor of the Evening Chronicle and editorial director of Trinity Mirror North East said: "We were looking for an innovative idea from anyone in the organisation to take from concept through to launch. Louise did extremely well to be chosen against some stiff opposition - winning a cheque and a profit-share in the venture.

"We have an amazing archive of material on all manner of subjects but we also have an army of readers in the region across our titles who have their own mines of information which they now have an opportunity to share through wikinortheast.

"If the amount of work put in is anything to go by it deserves to be a success and the site has already attracted positive comments even though it has only just gone live.

"Hopefully it will encourage even more staff to come forward with their own ideas next year."