PUTTING pen to paper has paid off for one aspiring young writer from Winchester whose work has been published in a national magazine.

Alison Jones, 13, of Stockers Avenue wrote a poem called "The Street" based on the sounds of Winchester High Street.

The Westgate School pupil wrote her poem in response to a competition in Young Writer magazine which asked readers to observe what was going on around them and to write about it.

Alison's poem was chosen because of the clever way in which she chose to observe the sounds rather than the sights around her in a busy street.

The teenager has already had one poem previously published in the magazine and has entered about six or seven of its competitions.

"I want to be an author and English is my favourite subject at school," said Alison.

"I was really happy and excited when I saw it because it's one of the first things I have had in print."

Alison's proud mum, Francis, said her daughter "does very well and tries very hard".