A 16-YEAR-OLD girl from Poole has been crowned the winner of a new national comedic writing award for young people.

Rosie Parkin, who attends Parkstone Grammar School, has been named the winner the inaugural Louise Rennison National Funny Award in the 15-18 year old comedic writing category – with her submission “Blasphemy”.

Rosie’s entry sees her write a short story following the events of her third maths lesson in year seven, in which she found herself stuck under the table.

Speaking about Rosie’s entry, award judge and CBBC presenter Ben Shires said: “Fantastic story-telling, coupled with highly illustrative turns of phrase make this and fantastic piece of humorous writing.”

In memory of late author and comedian Louise Rennison, the inaugural award has been designed to showcase the creative and comedic talents of young people in the UK, encouraging 11 to 18 year olds to create original comedy material by submitting up to 1,000 words or three pages of creative copy or a funny video performance of up to three minutes.

Rosie said that she was “absolutely over the moon and still in shock” about winning the inaugural prize.

Following a flood of entries from all corners of the country, six overall winners have been selected by a panel of judges including comedian and author Andi Osho and CBBC presenters Ben Shires, Lauren Layfield and Jonny Nelson, writer and author Mark Heywood, talent manager Kate Haldane and director of Hay Children’s Festival, Julia Eccleshare.

Sophie Severs, award founder and sister of Louise Rennison said: “We wanted to create a competition that would inspire confidence in young adults and give them an opportunity to express their creative talents through comedy.

“Louise was passionate about young people having a voice and, she was dedicated to empowering young adults through her much beloved books.

“We were thrilled to receive so many genuinely funny and creative entries – that definitely had our panel of judges in stitches.”

Winners of the comedic performance award now get the chance to develop their sketches further through an online comedy work shop experience with youth theatre group Freedom Studious; with winners of the writing award joining an online comedy work shop with writer and creative Director of Ink Jockey, Mark Heywood.

Sophie added: “During a difficult year for the country, it’s been so inspiring to see the young people of Britain showcase their comedy skills in fresh and inventive ways.

“We know Louise would have found all the entries utterly hilarious and it was so hard to select the overall winners.

“It’s fair to say the future of comedy in Britain is in good hands – with a bright future ahead for all the award entrants.”

Individual winners will also get the chance to meet their comedy heroes and go backstage at a live performance, thanks to PBJ Live.

All finalists and runners up will also receive books from Harper Collins, Penguin and Rocketbook.