A talented ten-year-old from Wood Green is in the running to be named Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year.

Gareth Morgan, a pupil at Rhodes Avenue Primary School, in Rhodes Avenue, Wood Green, found out today that he had been picked to be in the final ten of the annual Amnesty International competition.

More than 3,000 young people in four age categories entered the writing competition.

The pupil, who lives in Albert Road, wrote a 250-word article on Syria as his competition entry, which had to be on an issue relating to human rights.

Students at the school first heard about the competition, which was entered by children from all over the UK, after visiting the Guardian newspaper's education department in December for a school trip.

All 60 children in Year 6 took part and spent a week during English classes researching issues that interested them and had the weekend to write the piece.

Gareth, who is in the final ten of the age seven to 11 category, was the youngest person to tackle the issues facing Syria in his writing, which impressed the judging panel.

The young boy, who also has a passion for music, particularly woodwind instruments, said: “I feel really lucky to be selected for the competition and also to live in a country where you can say what you think freely.”

The school's headteacher, Christina Whitam, said: “Gareth is a very talented student and a gifted musician.

“A number of our children are very talented writers and I think because Gareth’s piece was about Syria, it was very topical.”

The final ten from each category will now be judged by a panel of editors, authors and industry professionals, including Guardian writer Joseph Harker, children’s author Kathryn Cave and Angus Kirk, who last year was named the Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year.

Emily Drabble, contributing editor of Guardian Teacher Network - a website that provides free education resources for teachers - was involved in selecting Gareth’s work for the final ten.

She said: “Syria is a difficult and complex area to tackle and needed background to fill in the facts for anyone reading it, like his classmates, who wouldn't really know much about it.

“This background was filled in expertly and then went into the facts about how many people have been killed, arrested or have fled.”

She said Gareth had “guts” to tackle such a huge topic and he did well to bring in his own opinions as well as explain the facts.

If Gareth makes the final three in his category, he will be invited to an awards ceremony at Amnesty International UK’s headquarters in Old Street, central London, on May 9, when the winner will be announced.

Their work will then be on show on May 29 at the organisation’s annual media awards ceremony in central London in front of an audience of more than 400 of the nation’s top media figures.