Storytelling Competition 2025
Thank you to everybody who submitted their work for the Storytelling Competition 2025!
We received hundreds of votes for our National Storytelling Week writing competition.
Our winners are …
Caleb and Ruby!
Caleb, winner of Category 1 for 8 – 9 year olds
Ruby, winner of Category 2 for 10 – 13 year olds.
Well done again to our shortlisted entrants Laura, Rosemary, Aaron and Ethan!
Thank you again to everyone who submitted their work and voted!
Winning Entries!
Caleb (Age 8)
Frankie found her favourite book. It filled her brain with the funniest things. The book was called ‘The Joke Book’ by Eleanor Swift. When Frankie picked up the book, a small note fell out. Frankie looked at the note. It was tattered and only had one letter on it – the letter ‘S’. Frankie was puzzled.
“A note,” Frankie bellowed.
“Shhhh!” the librarian shouted.
Frankie laughed to herself as she forgot she was in the library. Frankie noticed another note peeking out of a different book. It was called ‘The Body Jigsaw’. She pulled out the note and on it was written the letter ‘H’. She brought more books to the table. She shook them and three more notes fell out. The third note was an ‘A’, the next one was an ‘I’ and the last note was an ’A’. Frankie couldn’t see any more notes. She shuffled up the notes and it’s spelt Asiah.
“That doesn’t look right,” said Frankie. She shuffled the words and it spelt Aisha. “Wow it’s a name!” she bellowed.
“Shhhh!” the librarian said again.
A few moments later, the librarian said, “It’s time to go, take a book home if you want.”
As Frankie got up to leave, she saw someone pick up the joke book. She then ran over and said, “I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, but is your name Aisha?”
“Yes,” said Aisha.
“You like the joke book – that’s my favourite. I think we should be friends,” said Frankie with a gleaming smile.
Ruby (10 years)
The air in the library always smells a bit dusty, but today it felt different. Frankie, who was twelve, loved Saturdays because it meant he could go to the library and read his favourite books. Today, though, something strange happened. He was walking through the kids’ section when something shiny caught his eye. It was ‘All Creatures Can Get Along’, his favourite book. But it was glowing! Frankie reached out, feeling the warmth of the cover. As soon as his fingers touched it, the book sucked him in like a vacuum, and he couldn’t stop it. One second, he was in the library, and the next, he was falling through bright colours and flashing lights. He shut his eyes, but when he opened them again, he was standing in a strange place. The sky was purple, the trees had blue glowing leaves, and the ground was soft, like walking on a big sponge. Frankie spun around, his heart thudding. “Where am I?”
“Welcome,” a voice said. Frankie turned to see a dragon standing behind him. She was big, with shiny green scales. “I’m Hayley,” she said. “We need your help.”
Frankie blinked. “Help with what?”
“A storm is coming, and it’s going to destroy everything,” Hayley explained. “We need you to stop it.”
“Me?” Frankie asked, not sure if he could help at all. “How?”
“You’ve got a kind heart,” Hayley said. “That’s all we need.”
Suddenly, a Pegasus with silver wings appeared from behind a tree. “I’m Lily,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Then, a huge triceratops walked up. “Name’s Freddie,” he said in a loud voice. “Let’s get this done!”
Frankie looked at all of them. They were weird and awesome at the same time. “OK, I’ll help,” he said, not really sure what he was getting into.
The group travelled across the land together, meeting all sorts of magical creatures. They climbed huge mountains, crossed rivers that whispered to them, and ran through forests where the trees could walk. Frankie learned that being kind and helping his new friends was the most important thing he could do. Finally, they found the storm. It was a big, dark cloud that was sucking all the colour out of the land.
“It’s too big to fight,” Frankie said, thinking hard. “But maybe it doesn’t want to hurt us. Maybe it’s just scared.” He stepped forward and reached out his hand. “It’s okay. We’re not here to fight,” he said softly.
The cloud swirled and seemed to calm down. Slowly, the dark cloud turned into light, and the storm disappeared.
“You did it!” Hayley cheered. “You saved us!”
Frankie grinned. He was happy, but he knew it was time to go home. “Thanks for everything,” he said to his friends. The dragon, the Pegasus, and the dinosaur gave him big hugs, and with a flash of light, Frankie was back in the library. He looked down at the book in his hands. It was just like before. He smiled to himself. Maybe the world inside the pages was real, or maybe it wasn’t – but either way, Frankie would never forget his adventure.
You can read all the shortlisted entries below!
Read all shortlisted entries for Category 1 (8-9 years)
Read all shortlisted entries for Category 2 (10-13 years)
