A PUPIL from Maldon has wowed judges and been named a regional winner in a national writing competition.

Year 8 student Sophia Chapple, 13, from Plume Academy in Maldon entered the the National Young Writers’ Awards with her short story ‘A Little White Lie Can Go Far...’.

The competition, which ran for the past three months, invited children in the UK from four to 14 to write a 500-word story on the theme of heroes.

Tens of thousands of children applied for the chance to win a trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school.

Principal of Plume Academy Carl Wakefield said: “My staff and I were absolutely delighted when we heard the news that Sophia had won.

“This was even more pleasing when we heard there were just 137 students taken through across the nation out of over 38,000 entries.

“All Year 8 students had been encouraged to enter by their head of year, Mr Ash Stoneman, in a year group assembly and we knew there were some absolutely outstanding entries.

“However, Sophia’s was of course the one chosen and from what we read, rightly so.

“We are positively delighted for Sophia whilst immensely proud of her at the same time, and we wish her every success at the next and final stage of this prestigious competition.”

This year’s judge was comedian and children’s author David Walliams.

Mr Walliams said: “I was overwhelmed by the quality and creativity of the stories I was reading and was so impressed that this broad range of exciting ideas have come from such young writers.

“Each piece of writing drew me in and kept me captivated by clever and observant story lines and engaging characters.

“We definitely have some future star authors here.”

The top ten runners up for the UK are still being shortlisted and will be announced next Monday.