Schoolboy's story takes top prize

Josh Rodell's story beat more than 5,000 other entries

A 12-year-old Suffolk schoolboy has won a national writing prize with the help of a lumbering giant and a very vivid imagination.

Josh Rodell, from Sudbury, had never written a proper story when he decided to enter the story-telling competition.

His tale, The Giant Book Glue Quest, was picked as the winner, beating 5,000 other entries.

The All Saints Middle school pupil will have a day out in London on Wednesday and a slot on national radio.

His achievement was announced at the morning assembly at All Saints Middle School on Tuesday.

Characters unstuck

Josh's story was selected out of 5,265 entries from children aged 10 to 14 years.

"It's about these characters who get unstuck from their book because there is a malfunction at the book glue factory and they have to go and fix it," Josh said.

StoryQuest Tales was created by The Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation and Cartoon Network.

Josh's story is based on the StoryQuest characters created by illustrator Quentin Blake.

The Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo and the judges were impressed with his writing style and imagination and the way he used the different characters to tell the tale.

As part of the prize Michael Morpurgo will read an excerpt of Josh's story on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Wednesday and the whole story on Radio 4 Go4It on Sunday 19 December.