Queen Elizabeth High School student Blake Henwoodhas been selected as the Isle of Man’s representative for an international letter writing competition.

The 12-year-old had his letter handpicked from many entries by young people across the island for the Universal Postal Union (UPU) International Letter Writing Competition for young people.

Entries had to be handwritten, and Blake’s included a fictional story about a prisoner of war living on the Isle of Man.

It has now been submitted to the international competition from around the world to be judged at the end of August.

Last year saw 1.2 million entries from 49 countries.

Blake won first place in the secondary school category after impressing a panel of judges with representatives from each of the organisers.

Charlotte Hewitt, also from QEII, took second place and Francesca Lord from Ramsey Grammar School won third place.

Blake said: ’I really enjoyed taking part in this competition and I am very proud that my letter has been selected to represent the Isle of Man.’

In the primary school category, Jamie Corkill and Lucie Williams from Onchan School took first and second place, with Jenna Gelling from Arbory School taking third, all winning money and stamps for their school.

Chris Thomas MHK, Culture Vannin chairman said: ’They shared a real sense of what makes the Isle of Man a special place’

The competition ran in February and March as part of the Year of Our Island initiative by a collaboration between Isle of Man Post Office, Department of Education , Sport and Culture and Cabinet Office.

The theme was: ’Imagine you are a letter travelling through time. What message do you wish to convey to your readers?’