A SCHOOLGIRL has the chance to win a national writing competition after making the final as one of ten pupils from across the UK.

Tara Sapkota, 13, an Upton Court Grammar School pupil, won the regional round of the National Young Writers' Awards 2017.

Tara, from Slough, impressed with her story 'Seed of Life' about a group of people who set out in search of a cure to a mystery illness on another planet.

The lucky national winner will be surprised in their own school today (Tuesday) by wildlife TV presenter and writer, Steve Backshall. Together with tuition provider Explore Learning, who stage the competition, he will present them with a trophy, a trip to Disneyland Paris for them and their family and £500 worth of books for their school.

Carey Ann Dodah, head of curriculum at Explore Learning says: “The year’s National Young Writers’ Awards attracted so many entries and to make it to the top ten in the country is really something to be proud of.

"We have been absolutely blown away with the amazingly creative, thoughtful and inventive stories that children have written and we hope that being named a runner up will inspire Tara to continue writing as one day she may well be the JK Rowling or Steve Backshall of the future.”

Tara fought off competition from more than 10,000 children across the country to make the final ten. For her efforts so far, she has received an engraved pen from National Stationery Week sponsors, Sheaffer as well as goodies from various partners of the competition. She also received a certificate to celebrate her story, along with personalised feedback from Explore Learning.

Tara wrote her story in the first person, addressing the reader directly as if she had written a diary.

The competition's theme this year was ‘The Future’ and children were tasked with writing a 500 word story set in 3017. Robots were overwhelmingly the most popular characters and appeared in almost a third of the entries, whilst teleportation, rockets and jets were the common modes of transport.