Year 3 pupil Jessica Ellis (8) has been shortlisted in a national story writing competition organised by BBC Radio 2.
Her tale titled “Harvey at the Animal Olympics” was one of 74,000 stories entered for the Chris Evans Breakfast Show 500 Words competition.
These have now been narrowed down to the best 25 in two age groups and are being judged by five celebrated children’s writers including Dame Jacqueline Wilson and David Walliams. They will select a gold, silver and bronze winner in each category.
Jessica has been invited to attend the Hay Festival on June 1st for a live outside broadcast of the radio show during which the six winners will be announced. Their stories will be performed by an actor or well-known figure and published.
The main character in Jessica’s story is a mouse from London who befriends an American frog during the gymnastics event at the Animal Olympics. She was inspired to write the story because her uncle has been involved in the construction of the Olympic stadium and she sits next to a girl in class whose hobby is gymnastics.
Jessica spent many hours over the February half term perfecting her story within the 500 word limit the competition allows.
“I really enjoyed writing it and kept changing the words so it made more sense,” she says.
Her attention to detail obviously paid off!