Top literary prize for Liskeard girl
A Liskeard Junior School pupil has won a top literary competition - just one of six overall winners in the country out of 10,000 entrants.
Stephanie Cayzer, aged 10, and one of the youngest pupils in her Year Six class, impressed judges and authors Janni Howker and Michael Rosen, with her moving account of the death of her much loved grandmother, Mrs Eileen Cayzer, in 1998.
Entitled "Goodbye Gran", the story was published in the Times Educational Supplement as part of the Write Away competition.
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Together with her parents, Julie and Tony Cayzer. Stephanie thoroughly enjoyed a trip to the Globe Theatre in London, for a performance of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors as part of her prize.
This was an apt treat and experience for Stephanie as she is soon to play Olivia in the school's production of Shak-espeare's Twelfth Night.
Other prizes were a cheque for £100, a Curry's voucher for £100, and £400 for her school to fund a writer's residency.
Stephanie was encouraged to enter the competition by the Junior School's deputy head Mrs Sandra Merry, being a member of her top English set in both Years 5 and 6. She says she hasn't decided if she would like to be a writer when she grows up, but she would like to keep up with her writing at present because she enjoys it so much.
She has already had work published 'A Potion of Strange Funny Rhymes', in the Cosmic Poetry Book for Cornish Schools, and enjoys reading, especially horror and adventure stories.
Head teacher Martin Clark said he was always very pleased when the high standards achieved by various children at the school were recognised, and the whole school was absolutely delighted at Stephanie's success in such a prestigious competition achieving national recognition.