How to enter

All stories must be submitted via the online form on our website.

Parents, guardians and teachers can register for a SUBMITTER ACCOUNT, or by following the links at the top of this page. Once an account has been created, it can be used to upload a single story or a whole school’s worth of tales with our new top tool! For more information on how to enter a story into this year’s competition, please visit our Submit Your Story page.

What are the prizes?

As well attending a spectacular 500 Words Final at Buckingham Palace where superstar celebrities will read the winning stories live on the radio, six amazing illustrators: Tony Ross, Fiona Lumbers, David McKee, Sue Cheung, David Roberts, and Margaret Sturton – will each be set the task of illustrating one the winning stories.

The winners in each age category will also receive:

Gold Winners – Chris Evans’ height in books and 500 books for their school.

Silver Winners – HRH The Duchess of Cornwall’s height in books.

Bronze Winners – Their own height in books.

There is also a BRAND NEW Prize for 2020 and it doesn’t matter how good your story is just that you enter one. One entrant will be selected at random to receive a fabulous book bundle and an invite to the final (for child plus a parent or guardian). They will also win 500 books for their school – so the more pupils a school has that has entered the more chances they have of winning a brand new library.

Enter your 500 short story online. Click the link to find out more about it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4n1HgL2GFCWDmCtq9Sx5kKB/500-words-2020