A PIECE of homework turned into a prize-winning story for a retired civil servant from Shirehampton.

Edith Anderson won a top prize after entering the Writers of the Year competition, run by United Press.

The 67-year-old, who lives in Home Ground, has always written short stories as a hobby but dedicated more time to it after she retired.

She said: "I've been writing little stories for years but when I retired I took it more seriously. I did a diploma in creative writing at Bristol University."

It was in that class that Ms Anderson came up with the idea for her story Looking for Dad, which won her first prize in the children's story category. It has now been published in an anthology, with five other winners.

She said: "It began as a short class exercise, but I liked my main character, Millie, and developed it into this, my first children's story.

"Millie is an 11-year-old girl who is disabled and she has never known her real dad. She lives with her sister, her mum and her mum's partner, and when they start having money problems she sets out on an adventure to try and find her dad.

"I don't know where the idea came from, really, but I wanted to write more about it, so it became a girls' adventure story."

Since winning the competition Ms Anderson has also gone on to write picture books and even a crime novel. She is currently working on a non-fiction book based on her travels.

She said: "My other main interest is gardening. Through this I have travelled to America, given talks and written articles. My daily diaries will be the background for this project."

The annual competition aims to get more people involved in writing, and receives thousands of entries every year.

Peter Quinn, editor of this year's collection, said: "As publishers of the National Poetry Anthology, which is the biggest free-to-enter writing competition in the UK, we have received work from over 60,000 writers in the past decade.

"There are so many styles and genres of writing that we thought it would be a great idea to run a competition highlighting all these different facets of the art.

"We look for the most unique and talented amateur writers from across the country. With only six winners, it's a great honour to be chosen."

Ms Anderson added: "I have had poems published in three anthologies by United Press but this is the first time any of my short stories has been published. That's why I'm thrilled that it was good enough to win."