BBC 500 Words 2018 - Final Predictions

Dr Simon Reads… 500 Words 2018

The final 50 stories are now up for the 2018 run of the BBC 500 Words Competition.

For more information on the 500 Words competition see my post on the 2017 awards; but in brief it’s a creative writing competition run by the BBC for children aged 5-13, who can any kind of story they like, as long as it is within 500 words. Three winners from each of the two age categories (5-9 and 10-13) get their stories read out by a famous actor in a live final, plus win a big stack of books. Since its inception in 2011 it’s grown massively with tens of thousands of entries each year.

In each of these ruminations I look at the winning stories, and the celebrity reading, but I encourage you to also check out the other 48 finalists for each year; the writing on display is often breath-takingly good. (http://bbc.in/2pWJLrW).

This year I’m going to do something slightly different – give a brief description and discussion of each of the finalists, but by bit, and at the end make my predictions for winning stories, who are announced on the 8th of June. After, I’ll probably do something similar to the previous years and discuss the winners and their celebrity readers in a little more depth, plus I’ll be able to see how good (or more likely not) my predictions were.

And now, the tough part: final predictions. I’m going to try to select five stories from each age category and see how many of them crop up in the finals. First and foremost I can only really select those that I personally think are the best; trying to second-guess the judges is nigh on impossible I’ve discovered.

Age 5-9 Predictions
The Strain – I thought was extremely well-written with some great turns of language (“stretched out under the terracotta sun”).

Letter to Theresa May – an entertaining mix of slapstick and satirical comedy with a novel concept.

The Poo Fairy – Again, really funny, cleverly imagined and it comes with not just one, but two, moral messages.

King Onion – Utterly bonkers inventiveness makes it really original.

Agent Ramsbottom – Again a comic tale with a moral attached, with some gross-out moments.

Age 10-13 Predictions
Messenger of the Gods – it’s got a good central idea and some great comedy moments, well written.

Polaris – of the three Syrian refugee stories, this one is the most immediate and affecting; one of them at least deserves to be a winner.

The Forgotten Soldiers – a good solid rumination on identity, courage, duty, religion, war and nationality all rolled up in a tragic story.

The Mystery of the Loch Ness Scarf – clever and funny throughout, with an entertaining twist.

The Trouble With Mondays – another clever concept, again wittily told throughout.

I’m really glad I’m not one of the real judges, that was hard, there were so many other good stories I had to let go; the touching Dancing in the Street, the high-concept Just Another, the darkly comic Toxin on the Tube, the passionate This Girl Can, so many good stories.

Once the final is done and dusted I’ll revisit the winners and give more of an in-depth study, including the celebrity readings, plus see how accurate my predictions were.

Roll on June 8th!

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