A school girl named young speaker of the year has revealed how she tackled her nerves to impress judges and beat 15,000 other contestants to the top spot.

Mia Pitts, 11, gave a speech on piano accordions and used her passion about playing the instrument to turn nerves into confidence on stage. She has become one of just nine students in the country to win the ESB Young Speaker Awards 2017.

She beat fellow competitors including year 11 pupils and sixth form students by impressing English Speaking Board judges with her enthusiasm and way with words.

Mia said: "When I got to the ceremony I wasn’t expecting it to be so busy, and I was really nervous. But when I got up onto the stage and started my talk it was really fun, and I enjoyed hearing the other performances from the young speakers.

“Winning Young Speaker of the Year was a really great experience that I will never forget.”

She travelled to Liverpool with her parents and drama teacher Emma Gregson Burt earlier in the month where she was presented with a trophy.

ESB’s chief executive, Tina Renshaw, said: “Mia did extremely well to be selected as an overall winner.

"Communication skills are at the heart of successful lives and careers and these youngsters demonstrated exceptional abilities to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently.”