A BLAENAU Gwent student has won a national art competition celebrating a new dramatization of Neil Gaiman’s novel Stardust.

Bethany Inglesby-Wood of Ebbw Vale, who studies AS Level Art and Design at Coleg Gwent, will have her design featured on the Radio 4 website as the accompanying image when the drama airs. She also received a script signed by the cast and a print donated by the author himself with a personal letter.

Bethan said she is a big fan of the story and entered the BBC Radio 4 competition after hearing about it from her lecturer Grace Coomer, who spotted the competition on the station’s website while marking during the October half-term.

Bethan, 16, said: “I saw the film first a couple of years ago and I loved it.

“I tried my best to base my illustration on the knowledge I have of the book - I have read parts of it and I enjoyed it as much as the film.

“The idea behind my picture comes from the fact that, in the story, most of the characters are after Yvaine (the main character) for their own individual reasons.

“I decided to place her in the centre and I thought the hands were a good way to include the other characters while showing their determination to obtain Yvaine.

“I also tried to give the illusion that she is glowing in the picture. I used watercolour paints and colouring pencils to compose the illustration.”

Ms Coomer sent out an email to the students to make them aware of the competition and was unaware anyone had entered until Bethan mentioned to her privately that she made the final 10 while they were on a trip at the University of South Wales.

Bethan found out last week that she had won, but was asked to keep it quiet by the BBC for several days.

Ms Coomer, 38, of Crosskeys, said: “This is a fantastic news for Bethany and we are all extremely proud of her.

“She was quite relaxed about it when she told me she made the final but I was so excited for her.

“She told me she won by email after a class last week as she’s quiet shy. It’s really hard to do illustrations from your imagination like that.”

Stardust was written in 1997 and turned into a movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Claire Danes in 2007. Its based around Tristan Thorn who, when challenged to catch a fallen star, leaves the sleepy village he calls home and crosses into the land of Fairie and realm of Stormhold where he discovers the star is in fact a woman.