Congratulations to 11-year-old aspiring writer Heidi Ashton in Year 6 at Wells Cathedral School, whose story No Longer Hidden has been chosen from thousands of entries as the Overall Winner in the national Explore Learning Writers' Awards 2020.

Heidi, along with fellow Wells Year 6 classmate, Maisie Warner, were both initially shortlisted for the Top 100 Finalist List in the annual competition, having extended their creative writing skills over the October half-term break as part of the Year 6 English work.

The theme for this year's long-running competition, open for children aged four to 14, was Hidden Talents, and comprised three categories, one for each Key Stage 1, 2 and 3.

Winners were chosen based on creativity, rather than spelling, grammar or technical factors, giving children the chance to let their imaginations run wild.

Radio DJ, presenter and children's author, Greg James, was the official judge of the competition. The host of Radio 1 Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 was seen to be a fitting choice for judge, having co-written the popular series Kid Normal - adventure stories about Murph Cooper - with newsreader Chris Smith.

Greg selected a winner each from Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. Heidi was crowned winner of Key Stage 2 and the overall winner of the competition.

As overall winner Heidi has won a 13-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad, Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil, £1,000 in experience vouchers to spend on her passion, and £500 worth of books for her school.

Greg said: "A huge thank you to all the brilliant young writers who took part in the Explore Learning Writers' Awards for 2020.

"Congratulations to all of you for setting aside some time to explore your imaginations. More than anything, I hope you enjoyed creating something anew from your brain.

"In this terrible excuse for a year I got a lot of joy from reading the stories submitted. The decision to pick one overall winner was tough but I'm delighted to announce Heidi Ashton as the champion of this year's awards.

"Heidi's piece is written from the perspective of an old musical instrument that had been abandoned in a dusty shed.

"I loved how imaginative it was and clearly Heidi has a flair for telling interesting and hopeful stories.

"I absolutely loved reading it. It was unique and I was hooked throughout, desperate to learn the fate of the discarded guitar."

Heidi's win has been kept under strict embargo all week, but was announced during junior school assembly in the school's Cedars Hall on Friday morning, when she was joined virtually on screen by Greg.

Greg was delighted to be able to congratulate Heidi on her win and to instigate a question and answer session with her, before reading out her winning story to the rapt audience of young pupils.

Heidi said: "I am really excited to have won, but also shocked - I was sure that my friend Maisie would have won it.

"It was cool to meet Greg James and also exciting to hear my story read out loud by him."