Five teenage writers have been shortlisted for the 2019 BBC Young Writer’s Award.
The all-female shortlist was announced on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday.
The stories include Insula by Eleanor Clark, 16, from mid-Devon, a rite of passage told via a young woman’s journey from the safe community and almost magical island of her childhood to the brutal, isolation of the city.
Another Pair Of Eyes by Tallulah Howarth, 17, from Macclesfield, was inspired by the true story of John Dalton, a Northern scientist known for his study into colour blindness who asked for his eyes to be preserved after his death.
Seventeen-year-old Isobel Paxton, of Edinburgh, was picked for The Blue Of Spring Violets, which is set in a psychiatric ward and explores the kinship of the patients.
Allotment by Rowan Taylor, 16, from Reading, is the story of a daughter’s changing relationship with her father after her parents’ marriage break-up, while Jelly-headed by 16-year-old Georgie Woodhead, of Sheffield, tells the story of a night out and a lightning strike that brings devastation.
The winner of the 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University will be announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at the BBC National Short Story Awards ceremony in London on October 1.