Pen Heaven is proud to announce that the winner of the Pen A Story competition was Luke Cavanaugh. Luke receives a personalised Lamy Studio fountain pen and a Da Vinci journal, which we are confident he will put to good use furthering his extraordinary writing talent. Congratulations Luke, we're all waiting impatiently to read your first novel! Luke's winning story:

I picked up the pen and remembered what the old man who gave it to me had said: Whatever you write will come true, so use this pen carefully. I smiled, then I began to write... All I had ever wanted was a family but I don’t remember them. I was left on the street in my pram as a baby and was taken to Sunnyhouse children’s home by a passing stranger. I don’t remember my family or know what happened to them, but I feel an aching hole in my heart when I see other kids playing with their parents in the park. Don’t get me wrong, the kids at Sunnyhouse, or Sunny as we called it, are the best, but I wish that I knew what having a real family felt like. ...........My family had returned and they had come for me. They were high profile celebrities and they had hired a team of private investigators to find me. There was a knock on the door. I ran downstairs and opened it, but it was just my best friend Max. I was bitterly disappointed and then I noticed a Rolls pull into the drive of Sunny. A man in cool Aviators got out of the car and I realised that it was the famous footballer, Stephen Holmes. I was called Holmes but surely not... he looked at me and took his sunglasses off in shock. “Son?” he whispered and ran to embrace me. I was shocked and happy all at the same time. Happy that I had found my parents and that soon I was out of Sunny and would be living in a mansion. Home was on the exquisite estate called Elderly Hedge. Then I noticed my mother. She was a Dior fashion icon and a supermodel. “Son” she mouthed, words started gushing out of her mouth like water off the Victoria Falls. “Look at you all grown up. Our butler has a room made up for you. We didn’t know what you liked so we got you an indoor football pitch and video games.” It was fun for a while but there was one thing missing, other kids. I asked my parents whether I could have some of my old friends round and they said that they did not want “that type of child” at their house. I never saw my parents as they were always at some party or event. What use is a football pitch when there is no one to play football with? Then I did the bravest thing I had ever done. I took out my pen and wrote “...but then he awoke and realised it was all a dream... but he remembered.” I woke with a start in the room I shared with Max at Sunny. I realised a very important lesson in life. It isn’t what you have in life; it is who loves and cares for you that’s important. Having a rich and famous family that had no time for me didn’t make me happy but I am happy at Sunny with people and friends around me that really care.

The competition was run by the National Literacy Trust’s Words for Life campaign and sponsored by Pen Heaven. To read all the winning stories visit the National Literacy Trust's Words for Life Website.