A SIX-year old boy who wrote a story for his little sister as a birthday present has won a national competition to see his characters brought to life by a children's author.

Hugo Napier, from Stamford Bridge, received an illustration of a scene from his story by illustrator and writer of the popular Belle and Boo books, Mandy Sutcliffe.

Hugo's mum, Alex, said her son decided to take part in the contest in the hope of winning the prize for his two-year-old sister, Hermione.

She said: "It was his sister's second birthday and we were discussing what he wanted to give to her as a present.

"He saw the competition and said that's what we should do for her birthday, we should win the picture for her.

"She's obsessed with the Belle and Boo stories. We read them every single night."

Alex said Hugo was inspired to write his own bedtime story.

The Warthill Primary School pupil's winning tale sees Belle and Boo take a trip to the moon because it is so bright they cannot sleep.

They build a rocket but when they arrive, the moon tells the pair that it has to stay light enough to help people find their way at night.

Alex said: "He's just obsessed with space.

"Every night he would sit there writing his story out, he was so excited to be working on it.

"Now he wants to write stories every night, he just won't stop writing."

The contest was part of a National Storytelling Week celebration which aims to get children interested in writing fiction for themselves.

And it has certainly worked for Hugo.

Alex added: "He had never shown an interest in writing before.

"That's why I think it's such an excellent competition.

"He was really surprised when he won, I don't think he understood how special it was but when he saw the picture he was just impressed."

She said the youngsters were delighted with the illustration and card from the author, congratulating Hugo on his imaginative story.