A PRIMARY school child from York has been named regional winner in the National Young Writers' Award.

Alexander Dowle, aged six, is a pupil at Lakeside Primary School and write a 500 word story called Futuristic Football for the awards.

The competition is set up by Explore Learning, which has a centre in York, and is now in its ninth year, with the competition judged by television presenter and adventurer Steve Backshall.

More than 10,000 children entered the national competition, which will see the overall winner given a trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school.

Alexander has already been given his certificate for entering the competition, and being named regional winner, and the overall winner will be announced next week.

The winner will be surprised in a school assembly by Steve Backshall, and the top ten runners up will also win an engraved pen from National Stationery Week sponsors, Sheaffer, with regional winners receiving stationary prizes.

Steve Backshall said: "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."

Carey Ann Dodah, from Explore Learning, says: "This year’s National Young Writers’ Awards attracted so many entries so Alexander should be very proud of his success. We were blown away with the amazingly creative, thoughtful and inventive stories. We’re thrilled to see so many children demonstrate their interest in such important matters."