A Beeford pupil has been named as one of the UK’s most promising young authors after winning a national literacy competition.
Beeford Church of England School pupil Riley Parkin, five, saw off competition from children throughout the UK to be named as the youngest winner of the Mighty Write competition for primary school children.
The competition is run by literacy initiative Pobble.com and publisher Penguin Schools to uncover the country’s most impressive young writing talent.
Yvette Huitson, Reception teacher at Beeford Church of England School, said: “The children sat excitedly on the carpet waiting to see which school would be announced as a winner from ‘The Mighty Write’ competition.
“They couldn’t believe it when they read that Beeford C of E School had a winner and Riley positively beamed with delight when we made the announcement that he was a Pobble winner!! He said it made him ‘happy’ because ‘I did good writing’.
“We are all so proud of Riley who always tries his hardest and has the nickname ‘Smiley Riley’ because of his positive attitude and disposition.”
The competition was open to children from Reception to Year Six, with two categories – for children in Reception to Year Two; and for children in Years Three to Six – with five winners in each, judged by leading children’s authors Robin Stevens and Sophy Henn.
Riley’s triumph has earned himself and his class mates a very special writing masterclass from the teachers at Pobble.com.
Every child’s story entered into the competition by a teacher will be published on the Pobble website – making those pupils published authors, before a global audience.
Judge and children’s author Sophy Henn said: “It has been an absolute delight to judge the KS1 entries for Pobble’s The Mighty Write competition. I have really enjoyed reading the wide variety of entries and seeing how differently the theme has been interpreted. Serious ones, silly ones, robot ones and chocolatey ones.
“But what really came across was the commitment of these young writers to tell their story, whether it was one sentence or two pages. A joy to read!”
Penguin Schools will send signed copies of all Sophy Henn’s books to the school.