RNIB: Bo'ness schoolgirl's story writing impresses author Sir Michael Morpurgo

Grace Kidd, nine, who was born with sight impairment, won the contest organised by leading sight loss charity RNIB (Royal National Institute for Blind People).

She wrote her 500 word story called The Mysterious Box – in which she uncovers a magical portal to another world – using her Braille Note Touch and the story was then printed on a braille embosser.

The competition for children aged five to 12 was based on RNIB’s motto, ‘See differently’ and aimed to celebrate different ways of seeing, beholding, and sensing an adventure that children have been on, or one that they could imagine.

Grace’s story was judged from three shortlisted entries by multi-award winning children’s author Sir Michael Morpurgo and the prize was a set of signed books from Sir Michael.

Announcing the winner, Sir Michael said: "The story draws you in and keeps you reading. And when it is over, it’s not over and I like that! Bravo the writer! We can't wait to see what she writes next!”

Grace, from Bo’ness, was born with vision impairment. At three months old her parents took her to a standard health appointment which showed up that her eyes were not tracking very well. Tests showed she had inherited Leber Congenital Amaurosis – which means the cone at the back of her eye hadn’t developed fully. As a result, she can only see light and dark.

A pupil at Grange Primary School, Grace is a keen reader, using Audible and Borrow Box to read hundreds of books which she uses as inspiration for her own stories.

She started writing stories by making up titles and writing out descriptions of the blurb that might appear on the back cover of a book. Now she writes everything from fantasy and high school teen fiction to darker thrillers.

On winning the RNIB competition, Grace said: “I was so excited. I can’t believe it.

“To get inspiration, my teacher had set us a writing project about a mysterious box. She gave us some ideas at the start such as the box being magical or something mysterious being inside the box.”

On Grace’s love of reading and writing, her dad, David Kidd, said: “We saw something on TV about accessibility of smartphones and it just blew us away, so we got one for Grace. She became a natural on it and discovered ways to do things that no one else would know.

“When we started getting into audio books they really captivated her. She now has 300-odd books.

“Because she’s listened to so many books, and because the narrators have to make them jump off the page and describe something that’s not theret. That’s helped Grace to learn to join words together and describe things and develop an excellent vocabulary.”

"Grace winning this competition is fantastic recognition for all her hard work. It takes a lot of effort to make what she does look easy, but she does what she does for the love of it.”

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As well as her guide dog Mollie, Grace finds her white cane to be very helpful and uses a Braille Note Touch and Perkins brailler to read and write.

Asked if she has a message for other children with sight loss, Grace said: “Well, I would say to everyone who is visually impaired, don’t give up; you can do things but just in a different way. Just because you are blind or have any disability, you are unique and you can do whatever your mind is set to do.”