A GARNOCK Valley school girl has this week been named as one of the winners of a prestigious competition.

Lucy McCulloch, 7, from Glengarnock Primary School won the under 11 age group of the Royal Mail's Young Letter Writer of the Year award and wins £200 in vouchers for both herself and her school.

She is joined by 11-14 category winner, Edie Matthewson, 12, from Fortrose Academy in the Highlands, who also wins £200 in vouchers for herself and her school.

The girls’ entries, which were two of almost 100,000 submissions from children aged 4-14 years old, will now go through to the final stage of the competition where it will compete as one of 24 regional winners for the UK-wide crown. Entries were received from one in five secondary schools and one in five primary schools.

Children were asked to write a letter in response to the question: ‘What is your dream job?’ The submissions were then assessed by a panel of regional judges on a range of criteria, including: correct letter layout and word count; good use of vocabulary; accurate grammar and well-constructed sentences; correct punctuation; strong and engaging content with originality and a compulsion to 'read on'.

Lucy’s letter outlined that her dream job was to be a primary school teacher.

Scotland’s judges included Hugh Henry MSP, Vicki Nash, director Ofcom Scotland and Madelaine Baker of Education Scotland and a teacher at Lourdes Secondary school in Glasgow and Julie Pirone, Director of External Relations at Royal Mail.

Hugh Henry MSP said of Lucy’s letter: “This was a great letter for a seven-year-old to write and it was very obvious in her letter that she had been inspired by a great teacher.”