FIVE aspiring authors have been named regional winners of a creative writing competition.

More than 2,000 children from across the region, aged from eight to ten, entered the Write Here, Write Now competition run by the Department for Education and Skills.

Emma Bainbridge, ten, a pupil at Durham High School for Girls, won the persuasive writing section for her piece called Holy Island - the location of a lifetime.

Two of the sections were won by children from Hexham Middle School - Chloe Brass and Eleanor Hall won the journalism section, while schoolmate Elliot Hird, won the story section.

Jessica Taylor, also ten, from St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, in Blaydon, Gateshead, won the poem section with her work The Special Surprise.

The winners will see their work published in a book released by Oxford University Press and will go on to the national finals at the Natural History Museum, in London, on November 30.