Chris Evans announces 500 words winners

Chris Evans unveils the results live from St James's Palace

Chris Evans unveiled the results live from St James’s Palace

Stories about heroic pigeons, poisoned cakes and living with a stammer were among the winners at this year’s 500 Words competition.

Now in its fifth year, the BBC Radio 2 contest challenges under-13s to write a story about any fictional topic.

A record 120,421 entries were received, with thousands of volunteers helping to whittle down the entries.

Chris Evans unveiled the six young winners in a live broadcast from St James’s Palace.

“Every single young writer in this competition deserves a round of applause, a hats off and a whopping well done for creating such sensational stories,” he said.

“They’ve all been so moving,” said teacher Jen Morgan, who helped judge the prize. “It’s just a privilege to read some of them.”

The winners were:

10-13 years category

Gold: Amabel Smith (10) – It’s A Wide World

Silver: Hannah Sennouni (12) – Londoner Pigeon

Bronze: Lara Akhurst (11) – Blue

5-9 years category

Gold: Sofia Zambuto (9) – Fight For Life

Silver: Robyn Fielding (8) – The Word That Wouldn’t Come Out

Bronze: Emily Potts (9) – Cake Wars

 

Launch of the 500 Words competition

The Duchess of Cornwall launched the contest at Weston Park Primary School in January

Sofia Zambuto’s gold award-winning story recounted a mother’s desperate attempt to save her family from what appears to be a tsunami.

“Children we must move now,” she wrote. “We must leave our home now. We must find a new home. The wave, the flood is coming again. Run with me now, as fast as your legs will carry you. Follow me now.”

Judge Charlie Higson said the nine-year-old had “managed to achieve a piece of mature action writing, which is a very difficult thing to do well,” and praised the “fantastic twist”.

Zambuto had missed the deadline for the 2014 competition by 30 seconds. “I’m kind of pleased I missed it now,” she laughed.

BBC

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*