500 Words: everything you need to know

< 500 Words

500 Words is the UK's largest story-writing competition for 5-11 year-olds.

The competition is currently in Round 2 of judging and progress updates have been sent to submitters. If you haven't received an email from us, then please contact [email protected].

There are two age categories: 5-7 and 8-11 year-olds and spelling, punctuation and grammar are not marked - as has always been the case for 500 Words, it's all about our writers' brilliant creativity! There are prizes to be won - each winner will take home a bundle of books and the gold winners will also win 500 books for their school library.

50 finalists will be invited to a star-studded grand final at Windsor Castle in February 2026, which will once again be hosted by Her Majesty Queen Camilla. If that's not enough, each winner will also see their story be read aloud by a superstar celebrity on TV, which will be shown as part of a special 500 Words programme with The One Show in early March.

We are pleased to announce that actor and children's author, Rose Ayling-Ellis, will join our panel of celebrity judges for the 2025/26 competition. Sir Lenny Henry, Malorie Blackman, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson and Frank Cottrell-Boyce will also return to crown our next winners.

See our prizes page for full details.

Each of the 50 shortlisted finalists will be invited to a glittering grand final - hosted by none other than Queen Camilla herself. Here, in a star-studded event , the bronze, silver, and gold winners will be crowned, and the six winning stories will be read out by celebrities.

Books to take home

The gold, silver and bronze winners of both categories will receive a huge bundle of books:

• Gold winning stories will receive the height of Sir Lenny Henry in books
• Silver win the height of Her Majesty The Queen in books
• Bronze winners win the average height of a child relevant to their age category in books

The gold winners' schools will also receive 500 books each for their school library.

Fantastic illustrations

All winning stories will be illustrated by children’s illustrators and published in a special 500 Words winners’ book produced by Oxford University Press. Illustrators include Korky Paul, Harriet Muncaster, Paula Bowles, Rochelle Falconer, Leigh Hodgkinson and Ken Wilson-Max.

Incentives

Any schools with 50% free school meals (or higher) that submit entries will receive a £75 National Book Token. All schools need to do is submit their stories and once the competition closes on Friday 7 November - we will be in touch if schools are eligible. We will be using the data of the Education Company.

As an added incentive for schools to enter, every story (excluding bronze, silver and gold winners) is entered into a random draw. The entrant will not only receive a ticket to the final (with a parent or guardian) and a bundle of books for themselves, but their school will also receive 500 books and a literacy wall art, to promote the love of story-telling. It only takes one submission per school to be in the draw to win a Literacy Wall Art and 500 books for your school!

We can finally announce that the 500 Words 2025/26 grand final will take place at Windsor Castle, hosted by Queen Camilla. In February 2026, 50 brilliant finalists will be invited to the star-studded event, where the winners will see their stories read on TV by superstar celebrities!

Don't forget to watch the highlights from last year's final, with special readers Olivia Colman, Rose Ayling-Ellis, McFly's Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, Matt Lucas, JB Gill and Rob Brydon.

Here at 500 Words, we have always wanted children to have fun writing stories, to be as creative as they can be and to make us laugh, cry or just be blown away by what we are reading. Children are encouraged to write a story they would love to read themselves. Over the years there have been thousands of incredible stories submitted.

There are very few rules for 500 Words but a few points to remember when writing a story.

All 500 Words stories must:

• Be 500 words or less (title is not included in the number)
• Be written by an individual and not a group
• Be a child’s own original idea
• Be prose, not rap or poem

Stories must not:

• Give any personal details of the child, including their name
• Recount an historical event (but they can use a real person or historical character as a source of inspiration)
• Be created, written or developed by AI
• Contain unsuitable material, such as; graphic violence, bad language and offensive content

In every 500 Words competition, all stories are judged on the following criteria:

• Characterisation
• Plot
• Originality
• Language
• Enjoyment

Missed the special 500 Words Live Lesson? You can catch up and inspire the next generation of story writers here.

Watch 500 Words judge, Sir Lenny Henry, and presenter Naomi Wilkinson, who are on a mission to collect the key ingredients of a brilliant story. From original worlds to unforgettable characters and imaginative words, by the end of the lesson your class will have everything they need to begin their own 500 Words stories.

500 Words encourages literacy! 84% of teachers who submitted stories on behalf of students in 2024/25, felt their students were more engaged with literacy and writing as a result of taking part in the competition.

Here’s what a teacher had to say: ‘My students have really improved in their creative writing skills since they took part in this competition especially the ones who are usually quiet in class so this is an encouragement to me as a teacher to help them gain their confidence…’

Since 2011, when 500 Words began, every story entered into the competition has been sent to our children’s language partner, Oxford University Press. These scholarly superstars have now collected almost a million stories. That's over 500 million words!

Why does that matter? Well, these stories help them to understand the language children are using and how it's developing over time. It helps them work out what kids are interested in: from politics to world events, celebrities to football, and it informs the creation of their dictionaries and learning resources for children. The results from this are taught in seminars and lectures around the world and help leading figures in education to improve the way English is taught in schools.

Catch up on the headlines from the 2024/25 competition's stories to find out more.

So that's why, if you're a teacher, you should send us every story from your class…or if you're a parent, you should encourage your kids to have a go. Their stories will ultimately change education in schools…and who knows, maybe change lives?

Need more inspiration?