GLOUCESTERSHIRE youngster Beth Ransome has picked up a prestigious journalism award.

Fourteen-year-old Beth, a Marlborough College student from Dursley, won in the Under-15 category for her article A Painting Worth a Thousand Words.

The Martin Wills Writing Awards – creative writing (fact or fiction) around a horseracing theme – are for young people resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland.

There were a record total of 216 entries in 2017 which has extra significance as it the 25th and final year of the awards.

Beth, who won a £250 prize, said: “My story is about a talented young jockey who was going to race in the Grand National but went to fight in World War II.

"In the story, I am looking at his ‘missing in action’ letter, standing in front of his portrait.”

The prize winning entries can be read on the website (www.willswritingawards.co.uk) under “The Winners” tab.

The Martin Wills Writing Awards commemorate Martin Wills, a journalist and amateur jockey who died in April 1992, aged 39. The Awards are organised by the Martin Wills Memorial Trust, a UK registered charity.