PUPILS from two Alexandria primary schools have taken the top spots at a national writing competition.

Thomas Patrick, from Christie Park Primary School, was the winner of the main prize at the Budding Bloggers Awards Ceremony at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

Cameron McCandlish, from Bonhill Primary School, was one of the runners up, but also received a special recognition award for his ‘vlog’ entry.

The competition was organised by Angela Proctor, author of the Thumble Tumble Book Series, which follows the adventures of a little witch from the Isle of Arran, and was launched late last year to encourage children age seven to 11 to become more involved in all aspects of reading and writing.

Bonhill Primary’s librarian, Marjorie McGregor, who accompanied young Cameron to the awards, told the Reporter: “It was a great day at the library. Angela presented the awards herself and it was a lovely day for the school.

“It was just a really nice experience for the children and great for the school, we’re all so pleased with Cameron.”

Thomas’ teacher Michelle Irwin said: “It was great because as the winner, Thomas got to take his whole class.

“The children got to experience the Mitchell Library as well. We’re very proud of Thomas and he was absolutely delighted. A little nervous at first, but he held his own the whole day.”

Run through schools all over Scotland, the competition received more than 500 entries and tasked the children with reviewing a chapter of one of Angela’s books or, if they felt ambitious, they could review the whole book.

The children were given the opportunity to express their own views by putting pen to paper, or through a vlog as Cameron chose to do.

As the overall winner, Thomas will have his name printed in the second book and has received book tokens for his school.

Author Angela said: “The whole event has been a magical experience for me from beginning to end. It was an absolute pleasure to visit school children across Scotland to get them involved, and then to see so many of them put pen to paper was truly inspiring.

“The standard of the entries we received was way above our expectations, with each and every review being outstanding. I am an author who writes fairy tales and today I got to feature in my very own.”

All award winners, along with their classmates, parents and teachers attended the ceremony, which was also attended by Glasgow City Council’s Lord Provost Bailie, Margot Clark and compèred by Scottish entertainer Alasdair Gillies.