Our popular Children’s Story Competition is back for another year with a brand new theme, new judge and great prizes up for grabs!
What do you need to do to enter:
It’s simple, all you need to do is write a story of up to 500 words based around the theme – ‘Courage.’
Your story can be about anything so long as the central theme is courage.Â
Maybe while exploring the woods near your house, you and your best friend discover a mysterious cave. Everyone in town says it’s too dangerous to enter, but you notice a faint glow coming from inside. With your heart pounding, you take a deep breath and step forward. What do you find inside? How do you show courage in your adventure?
Maybe there’s a new kid at school who gets picked on by some older students. You’ve always been shy and afraid to speak up, but one day, you see something that makes you realise you can’t stay silent anymore. How do you find the courage to help? What happens when you stand up for what’s right?
You can be as creative as you want, so long as your story is about courage, you can create anything your imagination drums up.
Download a FREE Learning Resource Pack
Simply complete the form and download the free learning resource pack.
Our pack is full of tips and techniques designed to help inspire and teach children how to write the best story they can.
Judging
The judge for this year’s children’s story competition is award-winning author Anne Fine.
Anne Fine is a British author best known for her children’s and young adult books, including Madame Doubtfire, which inspired the film Mrs. Doubtfire. Fine studied Politics and History at university, and her interest in political and social themes is evident in many of her books, such as The Granny Project and The Road of Bones.
We’re honoured to have Anne judge this year’s story competition and we can’t wait to read your entries.
When
The children’s story competition is open from 26th March and will close on 29th September 2025. The judging will take place once the competition has closed, and the winners will be announced by Anne herself, during the Yorkshire Festival of Story.Â
Prizes:
Prizes include:
1st place
- £100 book token
- A personalised response to your story by Anne
2nd Place
- £50 book tokenÂ
- A personalised response to your story by Anne
3rd Place
- £30 book token
- A personalised response to your story by Anne
Runners up:
3 runners up will receive:
- A personalised response to your story by Anne
School prize:
Schools that submit the most stories, minimum of 15 stories, to the competition will win three months free subscription to the Stories for Schools digital library.
How to enter
Now that we’ve got your imagination twitching and eager to start writing your story, you can get started straight away! Simply grab a notebook and pen, or a computer, and start writing down your ideas.Â
To submit your completed story CLICK HERE
Full terms and conditions can be found CLICK HERE
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