A young writer from Exmouth Community College is celebrating after winning a South West competition.

Bartosz Golonko, known as Bartek, previously qualified for the regional round of the Royal Mail’s Young Letter Writer of the Year Competition, in the 11 to 14s age group, as reported in the Journal last week. Bartek, 11, has now been named as winner of this contest, for which he will receive £200 for himself and £200 for his school. His letter is one of 24 which will now contest to the national final stage of the competition, from almost 100,000 initial entries.

Entrants were asked to write in response to the question: ‘What is your dream job?’ The judges said Bartek’s letter about wanting to become a pilot, was ‘deceptively simple, concise and persuasive’.

Judge Rhys Jones said: “His passion and commitment shone through, as did his reliability in any crisis! It was precise, direct and convincing - everything one would expect from a pilot.”