A BOOK-obsessed 12-year-old from Eastbourne has beaten 15,000 aspiring writers to claim a national award with his thrilling tale of an eventful first night in a new house.

Battle Abbey School pupil Alexander Boxall has been crowned winner of the National Young Writers’ Award for his dramatic short story That’s A Wrap.

The 12-year-old has been rewarded for his imagination and mature writing style with a family trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for his school.

His story tells the tale of Danny, who, together with his family, moves into an isolated mill cottage only to experience an eventful night of something more than just a bad storm.

The competition, run by tuition provider Explore Learning, was judged this year by best-selling author of The World of Norm series of books Jonathan Meres.

Since launching seven years ago the competition has encouraged hundreds of thousands of children to put pen to paper.

This year’s theme was strange events and peculiar happenings.

Mr Meres said: “Using some wonderfully descriptive and spine-tingling language, Alexander manages to convey a feeling of foreboding and suspense in a remarkably short space of time and still manages to pull off a cracking and most unexpected twist at the very end, that I doubt anyone will see coming.”

Dominique Holliman said her son had been obsessed with reading and writing ever since he was small but this was the first competition he had won.

She said: “I’m tremendously proud of Alexander.

“He’s always had a creative flair for writing but to be acknowledged in a national competition by a world famous author is a wonderful achievement and will no doubt spur him on to write more and more.

“Our house is just full of books that he’s constantly reading, he’s got a fantastic imagination so I’m just incredibly happy for him.”

Carey Ann Dodah, head of curriculum at Explore Learning, said: “This year’s National Young Writers’ Awards attracted more entries than ever before so Alexander should be very proud of his success.

“Yet again we have been blown away with the amazingly creative, funny and astonishing stories.”