A budding young author from Basingstoke has written her way to a National Young Writers’ storytelling award.
Sudichya Thapa Magar was involved in a battle of the pens and won the regional round of the competition with her futuristic story ‘Reality or Dream?’
She will find out on Monday whether she has made the top-10 overall to compete for the national award.
“When I first heard I had won, I couldn’t stop smiling and I was really proud of myself,” said the 14-year-old.
“Before I used to write stories but I never shared them. Winning this award has inspired me to write more and share my stories with my friends and family.”
The Aldworth School pupil took part in the competition organised by Explore Learning, which has a centre in Basingstoke.
Children were asked to write a 500 word story set in 3017 for this year’s theme of ‘the future’.
Global warming inspired Sudichya’s tale and follows a young girl called Irene who lives in a time where people can’t go outside anymore because the air quality is so bad.
One day though, Irene leaves the house and discovers a different world to what she can see from inside.
Over 10,000 schoolchildren from across the country entered and TV personality Steve Backshall, who judged the competition, was impressed by the standard.
He said: “The quality of the stories was beyond belief.
“If I didn’t know this was a competition for young writers, I’d believe I was reading the scribblings of Isaac Asimov or Philip K Dick, and while there were elements from the great work of science fiction, every story was original, and had its own sense of individuality.”
Carey Ann Dodah, head of curriculum development at Explore Learning praised “the amazingly creative, thoughtful and inventive stories”.
She revealed that trees were mentioned more than phones and Donald Trump was mentioned six times more than Theresa May.
The overall national winner will win a trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school.
They will be announced on June 19.
