A TEENAGER’S magical novel has won her a prize awarded in memory of a former Cherwell School pupil.

Meg Phipps spent almost a year writing Time’s Fool which yesterday won the Dan Hemingway Memorial Award.

The £350 prize is given every year to one of the school’s sixth formers in memory of the former student, who died in 1991 after being knocked down while cycling along the A40 on Christmas morning.

The aspiring 19-year-old writer had left the school less than two years before he died.

The award is judged by his mother Sue, along with star of the 70s Goodies TV sketch show Graeme Garden and musician and producer Miles Water.

Miss Phipps beat 16 other entries including paintings, pieces of music and even a dress.

Her novel is set in a fictional village – excluded from the outside world – where people speak multiple languages.

One day time stops and the book’s heroine, a nine-year-old girl, recounts the reactions of the village’s many characters.

The 17-year-old from Chipping Norton said: “It was quite amazing to win and it’s great to know people read it and liked it.

“It was really fun to write. I wanted to write magical realism and make anything happen.”

She added: “It’s nice to think people at school are still doing something in Dan’s memory and I’m honoured to have won.”

Mrs Hemingway, who runs the HemingwayArt gallery in Pound Lane, Cassington, said: “It was a remarkable, mature piece of writing by someone that age. All three of us were bowled over by it.

“There are lots of people of different nationalities in this village and then time stops.

“It’s wonderfully written and must be read.”

Her son had completed one term at St Andrew’s University in Scotland before his death.

The 66-year-old said: “When Dan died we decided we needed to do something as a family.

“He was very creative – he was always writing and also played in a band.

“It’s something to remember him by and we also want to encourage young artists.”