A YOUNG girl with sight loss has won a national charity award for creative writing to celebrate World Book Day.
Grace Kidd, who is nine years old, has won a creative writing competition hosted for the first time by a leading sight loss charity, the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland (RNIB), to mark World Book Day.
Kidd, who is from Falkirk, wrote a 500-word short story called The Mysterious Box, where she uncovers a mystical portal to another world, using her Braille Note Touch.
The story was then printed on a braille embosser.
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The young writer was born with vision impairment, as tests at a young age showed she had inherited Leber Congenital Amaurosis, which means the cone at the back of her eye hadn’t developed fully.
As a result, Kidd can only see light and dark.
The youngster aspires to become an author one day but has said she’s keeping her options open and that winning the competition has been a real milestone in her young writing career.
Speaking about her award win Grace said: “It’s like wahooooo, I was so happy so excited.
“I can’t believe it. It will be a great milestone for me.
“I’m stuck between three passions at the moment, but one of them is writing, and I’d like to become an author.
“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.”
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As a keen reader, she reads hundreds of books which she uses as inspiration for her own stories.
Her love for reading and writing has been something that has been nurtured by audiobooks as her dad, David Kidd, says the narration and descriptive storytelling has been a real spark to her creative writing.
He said: “We saw something on TV about the 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 audiobooks, they really captivated her.
“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 there, they are excellent for children with vision impairment.
“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.”
The competition for young writers was based on RNIB’s motto “See Differently” and aimed to celebrate different ways of seeing, beholding, and sensing an adventure youngsters have been on.
Kidd’s story was judged from three shortlisted entries by multi-award-winning children’s author Michael Morpurgo.
The prize for winning was a set of signed books from Morpurgo in the format of her choice.
Speaking about Kidd’s win Morpurgo 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!”
Asked if she has a message for other children with sight loss, Kidd 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.”
RNIB offers practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people, and their families and carers.
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The charity also aim to raise awareness of the experiences of blind and partially sighted people and campaign for change to make society more accessible for all.
Lara Marshall, RNIB library engagement manager said: “This is the very first national creative writing competition the RNIB has run for World Book Day, and we're delighted that Grace is our winner!”
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