A TALENTED young writer is to have a piece of her homework published in a book of short stories.

Six-year-old Hazel Minty, entered a national competition along with 3,000 other children from across the country - and had her entry picked out for publication.

She was the youngest by far of the 12 competition winners and Hazel, who attends Chestnut Lane School in Amersham, has had her story published in Why Were Her Toes Like That?, which is to be released on March 6 - World Book Day.

Rosie Phillips, the school's deputy headteacher, said: "We gave Year 2 the option to have a go if they liked to and they did it as a piece of homework.

"We picked out some stories to send off for the competition and then we heard she had been picked as a winner. We're all delighted."

Mrs Phillips added: "The competition was meant for Key Stage 2 pupils, but some Year 2s, who are still Key Stage 1, decided to enter as well."

The next eldest winner to Hazel was nine-year-old Jade Longley from London.

Contestants were given the first line for a 500 word story by several leading childrens' authors.

The first line to Hazel's entry came from Stewart Ross, who also helped choose the 12 winning entries.

Around 60 pupils at Chestnut Lane School wrote short stories for submission to the competition, with 20 - the maximum allowed per school - being sent on to publishers Evans.

But the school now plan on releasing a book of their own to include all 60 original entries.

All profits from the sale of the anthology will be donated to World Book Day. Anyone who wishes to buy a copy should contact Evans on 020 7487 0920.