Queen Camilla has celebrated one of the fastest growing writing prizes in the country as she welcomed the finalists of the BBC 500 Words competition to Buckingham Palace.
The BBC 500 Words competition is the largest writing competition for children in the United Kingdom; each year children aged five to eleven are encouraged to submit a story that is 500 words or less, and specifically “a story that they would love to read”.
The Queen hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for fifty finalists with the BBC One Show. The finalists were chosen from over 44,000 entries this year, by a panel that included Sir Lenny Henry, Francesca Simon, and Charlie Higson.
Queen Camilla quoted beloved British children’s author, CS Lewis, in her speech where she encouraged all of the finalists to keep writing and sharing their creativity. Her Majesty said ”Some decades ago, a famous author said this: “You can make anything by writing”. He was quite right. ”
The six finalists were announced at the Buckingham Palace reception. They will be shared publicly on Thursday, 6 March on a special episode of The One Show being broadcast on World Book Day.
The Queen first began supporting the competition in 2015 as the Duchess of Cornwall and has remained committed to the annual event.
