Kate Baguley gives her account of being a Paper Cuts winner and coming to London to meet the celebrities who were filmed reading the top three stories:

"As anybody who has survived study leave will know, it is not exactly the most exhilarating time of your life.  Having forgotten how to lead a normal life during the pain of interminable revision, when the exams finish and you’re left to your own devices for weeks on end, you are suddenly faced with a great expanse of. . .nothingness.  It was during one of these days that I found the Spinebreakers website, and suddenly a whole new world of likeminded people opened up. . .

I found the Papercuts competition pretty quickly because I always enjoy entering competitions, and I entered straight away because it seemed like the sort of thing for me.  I wrote my hundred words (well, actually, 450 at first, which I could have sworn was only 100, but I cut it down), and submitted them, fingers crossed, hoping that they would be good enough to be shortlisted.

A couple of weeks later, I came across the competition again, and found that the shortlist had been opened.  Miraculously, mine was on the first page, and once again I crossed my fingers, having given myself one vote.

Then, a couple of weeks later I got the email.  ‘Well done,’ it said, ‘You have won!’.  I was invited to London in October half term, a time which seemed ages away.

On the morning my trip to London, I got up really early (well, for me, anyway) and Mum and I headed for the train station.  When we arrived at the Penguin Office, we were introduced to Josh, who was coordinating the whole thing, and the cameramen, who were busy turning my 100 words into film reality.  I helped them by sitting on the chair and making sure the lighting was OK. 

Soon, Sandi turned up.  She was really nice, and read my story in just the way I had imagined it.  The set looked realistic and professional, and it was all going really well. . . until the airport changed its flight path, and all we could here were planes going over!  However, soon they had gone and we resumed filming!

                                        


After Sandi had finished, we did some publicity shots together, and I hoped that my hair looked OK!  Then, it was time for her to go, and Danielle and Kate came to talk to me about becoming an official Spinebreaker, something which I had really wanted to be!  I also got loads of books, and an awesome t-shirt, which I will wear with pride!

After lunch, which was a humous sandwich, it was time for Taio Cruz to film Sam’s story about exams, and is pretty amazing!  I know exactly what he was writing about, and had to explain the bit about blank pages to Taio and Josh!  The set and lighting were different for the video, and the cameramen spent ages setting up an exam room scenario.  The lighting looked really effective, and Taio spoke the story really well.

                                       


After he had finished, we went to do more publicity shots, this time on the balcony outside, which is where Winston Churchill used to stand.  It has an inspiring view of the Thames and the London Eye, and because the day was really clear, we could see for miles.  Before Taio went, he just had time to sign a photo for my sister, who is a big fan. 

Then, faced with two hours until Rick Edwards, the final celebrity, was due to arrive, Mum and I decided to check out some of the local sights.  One of the cameramen recommended Covent Garden, which is really close to the Penguin Offices, and so we spent two hours watching the street theatre and looking at all the market stalls, before returning at five to meet Rick.     

                                   
                                     


Rick was a bit late, and so when we got back (which took longer than expected because Mum made me walk all the way to the tenth floor!), the team were still setting up for Molly’s story, which is all about her love of books.  The set was basically loads of books in piles, and Rick was going to lie in the middle of them and read the story.  The cameraman needed somebody to lie in the middle of the books to see whether it would work on camera, and so I found myself lying among piles and piles of books on the floor.  It struck me at this point how lucky I was to have won!

Rick was pretty good at reading!  He was really nice about the whole lying on the floor thing, which we had been worried he wouldn’t want to do, and he managed to read Molly’s story in one take!  He made it sound really different from Sam’s and mine, which was good because you could really tell that they had very different moods.

After we had done the publicity shots, which didn’t take long, it was time to go home.  I managed to persuade Mum to take the lifts this time, and so we got down to the entrance more quickly!  Then, we only had to negotiate the spinning doors, and we were outside!  The day really made my half term; I learnt so much about filming and had loads of fun. . . Thankyou Spinebreakers! "