A YOUNG author has won a national competiton with a story about a bus.

Sarah Goulding's The Easter Bus is to be included in a book published by travel operator Arriva.

The 12-year-old, from Broompark, is a pupil at Durham High School. Her story will be professionally illustrated and reproduced in a free book being published for Children's Book Week later this year.

Liz Esnouf, commercial director at Arriva North East, this week at Durham High School presented Sarah with her prize certificate and a book a month for a year.

She said: "We are always keen to involve local children in projects such as this.

"The competition was a fantastic opportunity to get the creative juices working and for youngsters to see their stories published and read by thousands of other children across the UK.

"We literally had hundreds of entries."