Demon Headmaster author Gillian Cross visited pupils at St Augustine’s Catholic College in Trowbridge last Thursday, after one of the school’s children won a national competition.

The design a book cover competition, organised by Bookbuzz, was won by Year 7 pupil Ella for her version of Mrs Cross’ own book, After Tomorrow, beating more than 250 entries in the process.

Mrs Cross, who won the 1990 Carnegie Medal for Wolf and the Smarties Prize and the 1992 Whitbread Children’s Novel Award for The Great Elephant Chase, paid a visit to the school as the prize.

She spoke to Year 7 pupils in the school hall about her books, before running a workshop with Ella’s class. Mrs Cross was also in the library signing books at lunchtime.

Mrs Cross said: “I had a great time and the pupils were fantastic. They were full of ideas during the workshop. It involved building up a story, inventing characters and then doing a writing task.

“Ella’s design for my book was very dramatic and she is a very good artist. It’s an excellent book jacket and it would definitely draw people in and make them want to pick the book up.”