Young writer gives KCOM Competition five-star review

This week, nine-year-old Joe, a Year 4 pupil from Keldmarsh Primary School, in Beverley, became the sixth winner of the competition which follows the adventures of hero Tom in The Magic Phone Box.

Joe, who described how Tom continued his quest to vanquish the evil Dragon Leader in the magical kingdom, said he was delighted to have won and urged other budding authors to put pen to paper for the next, final, instalment.

Joe, who collected a Kindle Fire HD, a £10 Amazon book voucher and a KCOM goodie bag for his efforts, said he had been inspired by the previous weeks’ chapters to create his own story.

He said: “I wanted to write about a magical golden sword so I included that. And I’ve been playing a computer game where you have to camouflage yourself, so I was inspired a little bit by that too.

“I enjoy writing because it’s fun – and you can make up whatever stories you want. I’ve really enjoyed doing the competition for the past few weeks. If I had to give it a rating I’d give it five stars.

“That’s five out of five,” he added.

Although Joe has an obvious flair for writing, he says he wants to work with computers when he grows up and is already a talented coder.

But he also hopes The Magic Phone Box has a fittingly spectacular ending.

He said: “I’d definitely say ‘take part’ to others. It’s fun, it’s interesting and you could win like I’ve done.”

There’s one more week left to take part in the competition, which is open to any youngsters in Hull and East Yorkshire under the age of 14.

Not only will winners be able to win top prizes but the final story is being transformed into a book and an animation which will be debuted at this year’s Freedom Festival, in Hull.

Everyone who enters will receive a collector’s KCOM cream K6 phone box keyring.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Monday, July 24. For more details of how to get involved visit www.kcomhome.com/storyteller

Joe’s chapter:

It was a long journey for Tom. Trees, mountains. The same thing every step.

Thankfully, his boredom soon came to an end. He was at the nest.

He heard roaring and screaming from the cave. Tom gulped.

He slowly stepped towards the gap. Suddenly, a man dressed in leaves and camouflage jumped out of a bush beside him.

"You! Are ya trying to defeat the dragon leader? Well, here’s a weapon to help you."

The strange man gave Tom a gleaming golden sword. Tom stammered “Th-th-thanks!”

Tom walked into the cave. Around him, shivering Tom saw millions of dragons sleeping…