HOLLYWOOD director Steven Spielberg is not an easy man to impress - but Weymouth student Cate Franklin, 15, has succeeded in capturing the film legend's imagination.

The director of movie classics such as ET and Jaws was on a panel that judged Cate's essay on the relationship between Britain and America in wartime to be one of the best in the country.

Other judges included film stars Tom Hanks and Ralph Fiennes, novelist Ken Follett and TV presenter Sir David Frost. They said of Cate's essay: "It shows real sophistication and flair. Both in style and historical substance, there is a clear argument on view here."

Cate, a GCSE student at All Saints' School, Wyke Regis, travelled to London with her parents, Clare and Richard, to meet the American ambassador, Philip Lader, and to receive her prize. She said: "The ambassador's residence was quite magnificent and I got to meet David Frost.

"He seemed very nice and he told me how important it is for people to understand their past and be able to relate it to the present.

"I wrote the essay in the summer term, but I didn't expect to do so well - it was a big surprise when I found out."

Cate interviewed her grandparents and other elderly people in Weymouth who lived through the war to find out what it meant to them.

She said: "I am also keen on drama and I was in a play about Weymouth in wartime a while ago, so that helped me as well. I am very interested in travelling and America is a country that I would really like to visit."

Her ambition is to combine her flair for languages with her writing talent to become a foreign correspondent. Cate, of Glebe Close, said: "I enjoy languages and I would like to travel."

The UK/US Millennium Essay competition was organised by the Department for Education and Employment and the American Embassy. David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education, was at the ambassador's residence to present Cate with her prize - a computer for her own use and one for the school.

Headteacher Tim Balmforth nominated Cate for the award.