A group of students at Neale-Wade Academy in March have been shortlisted in a national creative writing competition to win a cash prize.

It’s the 27th competition organised by Young Writers, a company that encourages students to engage in creative writing that is based in Peterborough.

Young Writers gave the school a selection of story starters based around Netflix series ‘Stanger Things’ with the aim of getting students to write a ‘mini-saga’ within 100 words.

Each story starter could be interpreted as pupils wished; they just needed to develop the story and genre.

In a letter to the school, Young Writers said: “This year we have received in excess of 20,000 entries from secondary schools across the UK.”

A spokesman for Neale-Wade Academy said: “A number of students from Neale-Wade made the shortlist and 12 students have won the opportunity to have their work published.”

Miss K Wilshire, English key stage three enrichment lead, said: “We are all extremely proud of the all the students who spent so much time and effort on their entries.”

The overall winners of the cash prizes for first (£250), second (£100) and third (£50), will be announced in the spring term.

The final piece, titled ‘Stranger Sagas – the UK & Beyond’, is scheduled for publication on May 31 2018.