A YOUNG author from Timperley has used the theme of technology to create a modern twist on the traditional fairy tale.

Ten-year-old Matilda North was among 10 winners of a national competition to create an adaptation of modern stories for a special book of ‘FairITales'.

The book features tall tales of techy princesses, smartphone-carrying knights in shining armour, tweeting piglets and gadget-loving goblins - we’ve even got Alice in DigiLand - all of which will raise money for The Prince’s Trust.

Describing her story, ‘Sir Bastian and His Smartphone’, Matilda said: “The most exciting thing about having my story published was telling all my friends at school as they were very happy for me.

"My brother loves knights which really inspired my idea for the story. His name is Sebastian and he really likes using his smartphone – that’s where I got the idea for the name and title.”

The team from Advanced devised FairITales as part of its involvement with the Prince’s Trust Million Makers competition, which aims to raise over £1 million nationwide.

The Million Makers challenge sees businesses from across the UK competing to raise as much money as possible over six months for The Prince’s Trust.

Money raised will go towards helping disadvantaged young people to turn their lives around. Three in four young people supported by The Prince’s Trust move into work, education or training.

Today’s fundraising event was hosted by Advanced, who had been inspired to create a competition inviting young children aged from six to 11 to write a creative ‘FairITale’ for the modern era, with the top 10 winning stories chosen for the book.

Two Young ambassadors from The Prince’s Trust attended the event, both to thank the young authors for all their efforts for the charity and to inspire more young people to get involved in future.

Books can be ordered online at https://oneadvanced.com/fairitaleswriting

Prince’s Trust Ambassador Deborah Meaden, investor from the BBC’s Dragons’ Den show, is supporting the Million Makers competition as it turns ten.

Deborah said: “As a successful entrepreneur myself, I’m delighted to be able to support The Prince’s Trust Million Makers competition. Million Makers is an excellent way to encourage new ideas whilst also raising valuable funds to help young people. The companies that take part are doing a fantastic thing, and we should all be encouraging them in whatever way possible.”

Sally Scott, Chief Marketing Officer at Advanced, commented: “Although we are naturally advocates of the benefits of technology, this doesn’t preclude us from being huge supporters of creative thinking and writing. What this collection of fairy tales shows is how important it is to continually reimagine the way in which we do things - we’ve been astounded by the ingenuity demonstrated in the stories which shows how the fairy tale can still be very relevant to children today. These traditional tales have been transformed by these children, making them relevant to the digital era in which we live, but with humour and creativity.

“We were overwhelmed with the take up from children and enthused when picking the winning stories. We are constantly led to believe that children are far keener to pick up a device than read a story but we hope this FairITales book challenges that opinion. Contrary to expectations, the printed book is still surviving alongside its upstart e-book cousin, and technology is helping publishers and retailers reach new audiences and find new ways to tell stories.”