Morgan Murphy, 10, won £500 worth of books for Skerne Park Academy, in Darlington, after winning the primary schools’ section of the “Little Did I Know” competition organised by Darlington Building Society.
Morgan also won her own height in books, plus a “magical mystery ride” for her family on board the North York Moors Railway.
The competition, held in partnership with The Northern Echo and TFM Radio, challenged budding authors to write a story of no more than 500 words, starting with the phrase “Little Did I Know”.
Morgan submitted a story was called “Hazel The Survivor” – a poignant account of a baby elephant taken away to work in the circus.
Her story was chosen as the winner from more than 300 entries. Ben Rogers, 13, of All Saints Academy, at Ingleby Barwick, won the secondary schools’ section and has already received his prizes.
The presentation to Morgan was made at a school assembly by author and journalist Peter Barron, who is Darlington Building Society’s literacy ambassador.
Caroline Darnbrook, Darlington Building Society’s Director of Products and Marketing, said: “The standard of the writing in the competition was fantastic and the judges were really moved by Morgan’s story. We hope this is the beginning of her writing career.”
Morgan said: “I love animals, so I wanted to write a story about an animal in a way that showed it’s wrong to be cruel to animals. I’m really proud to have won the competition and to have won so many books for my school.”
She plans to go on writing and has ambitions to be an author when she grows up.
