Her Majesty The Queen has joined an illustrious panel of judges at Buckingham Palace to select the winners of this year’s BBC 500 Words competition, per bbc.co.uk.
Chaired by The One Show’s Alex Jones, the panel included Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Sir Lenny Henry, and authors Malorie Blackman, Charlie Higson and Francesca Simon. Together, they debated 50 shortlisted stories narrowed down from over 46,500 entries submitted by young writers across the UK.
“500 Words judging day is a highlight of my calendar,” said Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “Every year I’m amazed at how funny, wise and bonkers our children’s stories can be. We judges always have a massive fight over which is the best.”
The top 50 young finalists will attend a star-studded ceremony at Windsor Castle this February. Six winners; taking Gold, Silver and Bronze across two age categories (5-7 and 8-11), will see their stories read aloud by celebrities.
The prizes remain a quirky highlight of the competition: Gold Winners: Their school receives 500 books, and the child wins their height in books measured against Sir Lenny Henry.
Silver Winners: Books stacked to the height of Her Majesty The Queen.
Bronze Winners: Books reaching the average height of a child their age.
All winning stories will be published in a special anthology by Oxford University Press, featuring illustrations by artists such as Korky Paul and Harriet Muncaster.
A behind-the-scenes look at the judging process aired on The One Show this evening. The full grand final will be broadcast on Friday, March 6 on BBC One, with further coverage on CBBC and BBC iPlayer.
Radio 2 will also celebrate the competition with a World Book Day special hosted by Sara Cox on Thursday, March 5, featuring a junior book club and guest Jamie Smart.
