Edward Answers The Call

A Cambridge man has scored a big success with his first major venture into writing.

Edward Oliver has just won a major national competition with his novel for children "Mr Call".

His prize in the competition is publication of his story as a book.

"Edward is a very gifted artist and illustrator and his book includes full colour illustrations produced by him," said one of the judges of the competition, Peter Quinn, Managing Director of United Press, which has published the book.

"His story is a very worthy winner of the competition which had over 1,000 entries from all over the UK," added Peter.

"Edward is now working on a sequel and it wouldn't surprise me if he went on to be a very well-known writer and artist. The competition was launched to bring new talent to the fore and in Edward we have discovered someone really special."

Edward was on hand at the launch of his book at Cambridge Central Library. Edward is currently studying for a BA (Hons) Degree in Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. "I've always had a big imagination and spend most of my time in a world of my own," said Edward. "Mr Call is my first children's book and I want more than anything to be a professional children's book illustrator and writer."

"We are sure that without the competition Edward wouldn't have received the boost that all writers need to launch their careers," said Peter. "It was very difficult to pick the winner of the competition but we felt that Mr Call had all the best elements which are essential for a good children's story. The success of the competition shows the huge amount of writing talent that there is in the country."

Mr Call is on sale in all good bookshops (price £7.99, ISBN 978-1-84436-825-9)