500 Words 2024/25: everything you need to know

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The winners of 500 Words 2024/25 were revealed in a special episode of The One Show on World Book Day. In case you missed it, you can catch up on the final, presented by Alex Jones and Roman Kemp on BBC iPlayer.

After almost 44,000 children entered the competition this year, just 50 finalists made it through to the spectacular grand final at Buckingham Palace. The winning stories were read out by top celebrities - with Olivia Colman, McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, Matt Lucas, Rose Ayling-Ellis, JB Gill and Rob Brydon joining Alex Jones, Roman Kemp, and of course, our host, Her Majesty The Queen for an incredible celebration of our young writers.

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

Not only that, the winning stories received an original illustration from Dapo Adeola, Nigel Parkinson, Lydia Monks, Momoko Abe, Rob Biddulph or Yasmeen Ismail.

The grand final for the 2024/25 competition took place in February at Buckingham Palace, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen.

50 finalists were invited to the event where the six winners were revealed and the stories were read by superstar celebrities. You can catch up the highlights from the final here.

Every story that was submitted (excluding the winners) was entered into a random draw - one lucky child was invited to the final, along with their parent/carer. They too received a bundle of books and 500 books for their school, as well as a Literacy Wall Art installed by Promote Your School

Our six celebrity judges met at Buckingham Palace in January with the incredibly difficult job of choosing our six winners. Chaired by The One Show's Alex Jones, Sir Lenny Henry, Francesca Simon, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Malorie Blackman and Charlie Higson were joined by new judge Olivia Dean to decide on the winning stories.

They also received a helping hand from Her Majesty The Queen - who joined the judges to share her thoughts on this year's incredible finalists' stories.

Find out what makes our panel the perfect pick to judge 500 Words here.

Each of 50 shortlisted finalists that were invited to the grand final at Buckingham Palace received a £20 National Book Token.

The gold, silver and bronze winners of both categories won themselves a huge bundle of books:

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

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

In addition to the book prizes, each of our winning stories received a framed illustrated cover produced exclusively by top children's illustrators Dapo Adeola, Nigel Parkinson, Lydia Monks, Momoko Abe, Rob Biddulph or Yasmeen Ismail.

All the illustrations and the stories were showcased in a special 500 Words winners’ book and given to the bronze, silver and gold winners in each age category.

Swipe through the illustrations from this year's competition

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 were 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

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

• Characterisation
• Plot
• Originality
• Language
• Enjoyment

Here's some top tips to kick start story writing

The top 50 finalists for the 2024/25 competition have finally been revealed. Read or listen to the top 25 stories in each category here.

To inspire storytelling all year round, we caught up with three of our judges, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Charlie Higson, who breakdown the marking criteria for 500 Words' stories. Play this short video (on the right) in class or at home to kickstart story writing.

There are more learning resources for ages 5-7 and 7-11, for you to use, to help breakdown story writing into a step by step process. Look out for interviews with authors Nathan Bryon and Elle McNicoll, exciting animations and learning content from our partners, World Book Day and Oxford University Press.

In case you missed it, catch up on the Live Lesson for the 2024/25 competition. Join presenters Joe Tasker and Shereen Cutkelvin, as they take your class on a journey inside a props warehouse, to discover how everyday objects can inspire epic stories.

Joining the lesson are our 500 Words judges; Charlie Higson, Francesca Simon and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who offer their sound advice and inspiration to the next generation of story writers.

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?

To make 500 Words a success and reach children of all backgrounds and abilities, we are working with a host of partners who are bringing their expertise to help us deliver a fun and enjoyable competition, with wonderful prizes, that is accessible to all - so make sure your class gets writing!

You can find out more about our exciting partners here.

Need more inspiration?