A Pembrokeshire youngster has made it into finals of a 500-word short story writing competition.

Twelve-year-old Ela-Gwennon Jones’ Screen Time was one of almost 140,000 entries to the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show’s 500 Words competition, coming in the top 28 in the age 10-13 category.

“The story began as a piece of homework, set by my English teacher, Mrs Shaw at Ysgol Caer Elen, Haverfordwest,” the Llangwm teen said.

Western Telegraph:

“I enjoyed the challenge of writing a story in 500 words and a lot of the task was deciding what parts to leave out.

“The message of “Screen Time “ is that age shouldn’t make a difference to choosing friends and I think people like the twist at the end.

“Seven of us from Ysgol Caer Elen made the last 5,000 of the competition and I was very surprised to hear that my story had made the final.”

There are 28 finalists in each of the two ages categories: five-nine years and 10-13yrs. All 56 stories were judged by honorary judge HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, chair of judges Chris Evans and award-winning authors Malorie Blackman, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Charlie Higson and Francesca Simon.

Carys Jones, Ela-Gwennon’s mother, said: “We are delighted that Ela-Gwennon’s story has reached the final and are grateful for the support and encouragement she has received from her teachers at both Ysgol Glan Cleddau and Ysgol Caer Elen to develop her writing skills in both Welsh and English.”

All 56 of top stories have been narrated and are now available to read and listen to on the BBC website.