An all-female shortlist has been announced for the 2018 BBC Young Writers’ Award.
Five teenagers have produced a short story under 1,000 words and stand a chance of winning the annual award.
Now in its fourth year, the competition is open to 14 to 18-year-olds, and the work of five young women has been selected from 962 entries.
BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks show announced the shortlisted writers and the winner will be revealed at a Cambridge University ceremony for the BBC Short Story Awards.
William Sutcliffe, author and judge of the competition, said: “The stories we have chosen reflect the talent and skill of the entrants and are a testament to the imagination and talent of teenagers who care about fiction.
“I was immensely impressed by the range of the writing and by the large numbers of stories seriously contending for a place on the shortlist. Those that made the cut are all remarkable.”
The winner of the award, with First Story and Cambridge University, will have their story available on the Radio 1 website and will have a mentoring session with an author in order to hone their writing skills.
Davina Bacon, 17, from Cambridgeshire, has been shortlisted for Under A Deep Blue Sky, the story of an elephant being killed by a poacher.
Reyah Martin, 18, from Glasgow, submitted Footprints In The Far Field, which tells the story of a mother losing her child.
Unspoken, by 16-year-old Lottie Mills, from Hertfordshire, explores issues of teenage mental health.
Jane Mitchell, 16, from Dorset, has been shortlisted for Firsts, which follows the efforts of a mother to escape the country of her birth.
Oh Sister, Invisible by 16-year-old Tabitha Rubens, from Islington, explores the struggles of a teenager witnessing the effects of anorexia.
The winner will be announced in a live BBC Radio 4 Front Row broadcast on October 2.