Today Buckingham Palace played host to the Grand Final of BBC 500 Words, the UK’s most celebrated children’s writing competition. 50 young literary talents were invited to an exclusive reception hosted by The Queen, in recognition of their remarkable stories and for making it to the final stage.

Her Majesty has a longstanding commitment to championing literacy and creative writing, supporting the 500 Words competition every year since 2015.

The six outstanding winners of the competition were crowned, with their identities to be revealed in a special episode of The One Show – 500 Words with The One Show – airing on World Book Day®, Thursday 7 March on BBC One. Audiences will be transported to the majestic setting of Buckingham Palace where this momentous occasion was captured on film today.

Her Majesty invited Romesh Ranganathan and a host of celebrity readers including Hugh Bonneville, Oti Mabuse, Luke Evans, Olivia Dean and – revealed today exclusively by Sara Cox on BBC Radio 2 – Marvel sensation Tom Hiddleston and star of Matilda Alisha Weir, to Buckingham Palace for this special episode of The One Show with Alex Jones and Roman Kemp.

This year’s judges, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, and Malorie Blackman, chaired by BBC Breakfast’s Jon Kay, also attended the special event.

Each of the finalist’s stories are available to read now on the BBC Teach website, alongside audio versions which have been voiced specially by BBC Radio Drama Actors.

Notes

BBC 500 Words is run by BBC Education

• At the event, the bronze, silver and gold winners of both age groups, 5-7 and 8-11, received a selection of exciting prizes, including having their stories read by famous faces and a bundle of books to help continue their love of the written word.

• The two gold winners received the height of judge, Sir Lenny Henry, in books and 500 books for their schools.

• Silver winners got their hands on the height of Her Majesty in books, and bronze winners received the average height of a 7 or 11 year old in books.

• All of their stories have been illustrated by children’s illustrators – Joelle Avelino, Axel Scheffler, Fiona Lumbers, Sue Cheung, Jamie Smart, and Steven Lenton – framed, and put into a 500 Words winners’ book.