An eight-year-old from Ellesmere Port had a fairytale day in a palace with a real-life duchess.

Robyn Fielding was among the winners at this year’s 500 Words competition run by BBC Radio 2.

Now in its fifth year, the contest challenges under-13s to write a story about any fictional topic.

A record 120,421 entries were received, with thousands of volunteers helping to whittle down the entries and Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans unveiled the six young winners in a live broadcast from St James’s Palace last Friday (May 29).

He said: “Every single young writer in this competition deserves a round of applause, a hats off and a whopping well done for creating such sensational stories.”

Teacher Jen Morgan, who helped judge the prize, said: “They’ve all been so moving. It’s just a privilege to read some of them.”

Robyn Fielding, winner of a silver award at the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition

Robyn, who has a stammer, won silver in her 5-9 age group for her story The word that wouldn't come out.

She sometimes finds it hard to express herself and her prize-winning story tells how hard it can be to get her words out.

“Writing gives her a fluency she doesn’t always have when she speaks,” says her mum Lisa.

Her prize for collecting a silver award was the height of BBC One Show presenter Alex Jones – 5ft 6in – in books.

The Duchess of Cornwall hosted the star-studded event at St James’s Palace, attended by 50 finalists and celebrity narrators. She said: “Every child needs to learn to read and write, but it’s often telling a story that brings it to life.

“That’s what’s great about BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words Competition, it’s given thousands of children the chance to discover the world of writing.

“The last five years have proved how successful it has been by the huge number of entrants, whose brilliant stories have given the judges a very hard task indeed.”

The Duchess, an avid reader, is a literacy campaigner and patron of organisations including National Literacy Trust and BookTrust.

Congratulating the winners, she said: “I can’t compete with all your brilliant stories.”

Judges included TV star, Mirror motoring writer and dad of two Richard Hammond, Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman, comedy writer Charlie Higson and authors Frank Cottrell Boyce and Francesca Simon.