Pupils from Exmouth Community College have beaten other schools to take top prize in a literature contest.

A team of year nine pupils took part in the Carnegie Shadowing presentations at West Exe College, which saw teams from nine schools championing authors they thought should win this year’s Carnegie Medal.

The Exmouth pupils decided to champion Andy Mulligan for his book Trash, and gave a presentation which included a dramatisation of the book.

This was good enough to win the award for best presentation at the event, for which they were presented with signed books by former Carnegie winner Mal Peet.

College librarian Louise Burrows said: “These students were highly motivated by their love of literature and were full of enthusiasm and brilliant ideas.

“They can be extremely proud of this achievement and they are a credit to the college.”

The successful team was made up of Victoria Upton, Kelsey Marrott, Caitlin Damsell, Phoebe Holman, Chloe Murrell, Matthew Blood-Smith, Matthew Jackson, James Cockayne and Heather Hirst.