A TEENAGER has beaten off competition from 5,000 other budding writers from across Britain and abroad to win a writing competition.

Now Helen Hammond, 14, from Chester-le-Street will have her work published in a unique book of short stories.

Helen was one of 100 youngsters to have her 100-word story accepted for the book. The stories were about outer space and the book is called 2001 - A Space Oddity, and all proceeds from the book will go to charity.

Helen said that she had forgotten all about the competition when the letter arrived telling her she was a winner.

She said: "It was something we did for a school project and I remembered it was really hard to cut everything back to just 100 words and have it still make sense. But really I had just about forgotten about it."

The book also includes stories by Patrick Moore, the astronomer and actress Jane Asher, President of the National Autistic Society. Children's author and illustrator Raymond Briggs has also written a story and illustrated the cover.

The competition was organised by stationers Staples. The book costs £1 and all net proceeds from the sale will go to ChildLine, The Royal School for the Blind, The National Autistic Society and Winston's Wish.