Two Hawke's Bay primary school pupils were crowned by two Warriors players on Thursday as the winners of the League in Libraries story writing competition.
Riana Foster from Parkvale School, Hastings took out the primary category with her story "Vodafone Warriors and the Magic Slime" while Caspian Buxton from Eskdale School, Napier won the intermediate section with "The Warriors, the Wizard and the other Wizard".
The competition aimed to promote reading and writing skills to school kids between Years 3 and 8.
Vodafone Warriors reading captain Albert Vete and fellow NRL forward Jazz Tevaga led a team from the Harvey Norman Community Warriors to officially congratulate Riana and Caspian.
It was the second straight year Eskdale School has provided a winning story after Tiaki McArdle's "An Eggcellent Adventure" in 2017.
"The quality of the entries from Hawke's Bay was tremendous with Riana and Caspian really standing out with their stories," Vodafone Warriors community relations manager Petrece Kesha said.
"We never cease to be amazed with the stories the pupils come up with and this year is no exception."