A Bicester area school pupil has made it through the first round of the BBC 500 competition.

After receiving 100,000 short stories, the judges whittled down the entries to 5000 and Harry Fuller made the cut.

The 10-year-old pupil wrote a story called 'Stumed' which tells the tale of the Robin Hood sycamore tree which was cut down. 

Last year, he won the poetry performance competition at Dr Radcliffe's School in Steeple Aston, but he is now dreaming of success in the BBC 500 short story competition.

The competition was first launched in 2011 by Chris Evans on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, and since then it has received over one million stories from children throughout the UK.

Children of all abilities are encouraged to write a story, which is under 500 words, that they would love to read to be judged by award-winning and best-selling authors.

Harry’s mum, Sally McKenna, said: “I am very proud of Harry because he has a tendency to doubt himself, but an achievement like this demonstrates that if you try, you can succeed. 

“Out of 100,000 entries, he got into the next level, which was 5000. 

“Unfortunately, he has not been chosen as part of the final 50 but his story will be put in the random draw held in March.

“If his entry is picked he will attend the final with live music and celebrity readers.”

This year, there are two age categories for five to seven-year-olds and eight to 11-year-olds.

Among the judges are Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon, and Charlie Higson, along with former children’s laureate, Malorie Blackman and TV star and World Book Day ambassador, Sir Lenny Henry.

The grand final will take place in February at Buckingham Palace where the top 50 finalists will be invited, along with a parent or carer.

The two gold winners will receive the height of Sir Lenny Henry in books, as well as 500 books for their school.

The two silver winners will receive the height of Her Majesty the Queen in books and the two bronze winners will receive the average height of a seven or 11-year-old in books.

On top of this, the winner’s story will be brought to life by six children’s illustrators who will each design one of the six winners' stories. 

Axel Scheffler will design the gold winner of the five to seven category, while Fiona Lumbers and Joelle Avelino will design the silver and bronze designs.

Jamie Smart will design the gold eight to 11 winner, whilst Sue Cheung & Steven Lenton will design the silver and bronze winners respectively.

The winners will be featured in a special programme with The One Show on World Book Day on March 7.