Malcolm Sargent Primary School pupil Lola Butler from Stamford makes it to the top 50 in the BBC Radio 2 500 Words writing competition

A schoolgirl has a shot at winning a national writing competition after penning a tale about a graduate bee.

Lola Butler composed the short story for the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition.

It has now been chosen as one of the top 50 stories for her age category out of 110,000 entries.

Lola's mum Rachel said: "Lola is a very funny girl and has a wicked sense of humour.

"She is incredibly chuffed to make the top 50 but gutted that we won't get to go to Buckingham Palace for the ceremony."

Lola's story is called Shoo! and tells the tale of a bee called Ozzie who has just graduated from the Bluebottle Academy.

Her inspiration for the story came from a close encounter with a dead fly.

Rachel said: "She's very inquisitive so when she found a dead fly, she spent ages looking at it under the microscope and then watched YouTube videos to learn how they fly and how they see."

Lola, a pupil at Malcolm Sargent Primary School in Stamford, has entered the competition every year since she was six, but this is the first time she has made it to the final 50.

Her previous entries have featured woodlice, sausage dogs and even the different personalities of a mug!

The finalists would normally be invited to a ceremony at Buckingham Palace but this year they will take part in a Zoom party online.

The winners will also feature on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Friday, June 12.

The winner in each age category will receive Chris Evans' height in books and 500 books for their school.

Writers in second place will receive books to the height of The Duchess of Cornwall and third place writers will walk away with their own height in books.

Lola, who will start a music scholarship at Stamford Hugh School in September, lists her current favourite books as The Boy At the Back of the Class by Onjali Rauf and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Rachel said: "Lola knows she has a natural talent for writing but she also loves nature, music and acro dance, so who knows what she will choose to be."

Click here for a recording of Shoo!