Daniel Ray with the book that won him second prize in a national writing competition – a complete Beatrix Potter boxset. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0637324)

A PUPIL from a writing group at Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary has wowed the judges of The Beatrix Potter Green Award 2008.

Daniel Ray’s The Tale of Ratty McNouse earned him second place in the eight- to 11-year-old category in the national competition, which attracted hundreds of entries.

He was one of six children from the lunchtime club who entered the competition at the end of the last school year.  The writing group’s popularity has doubled since the start of this term.

Daniel said he was shocked to discover that his story about a mouse made out of Blu-Tack had impressed the judges so much.

‘My family and me feel a bit amazed because the story was a bit bleak at the beginning until you got into it. McNouse is a bit like a character from a Beatrix Potter story. I’ve read the Benjamin Bunny story and the Peter Rabbit one so I got some of the ideas for the story from there.’