An eight year old girl has shown potential to be a great writer after claiming a regional prize for a short story she wrote.

Lexi Plowright, from Bandon Hill School, was named regional winner in the National Young Writer’s Award.

Her story was titled ‘One Thousand Years in the Future’.

The competition was organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning, and over 10,000 children entered with the theme being a 500 word short story set in 3017.

TV presenter and adventurer, Steve Backshall, judged the competition.

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 works of science fiction, every story was original, and had its own sense of individuality.

“What astounded me more than anything was that these young people had not only imagined future worlds, but imbued them with the conundrums of our modern planet.”