Queen Camilla “twisted a few arms” to revive the BBC’s 500 Words children’s writing competition after it faced the axe.
A champion and honorary judge of the world’s biggest literary initiative for children, the Queen stepped in after the BBC indicated it would be dropping the competition in its current format.
The 500 Words competition, which crowns the UK’s best short story writers aged five to 11, was launched by former Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans in 2011 and was last staged in 2019.
Praised by the Queen for inspiring children to explore their creativity, the competition was halted by the pandemic and then set to be axed as the BBC considered other options, such as a “new listener-led” writing challenge, after Evans left for Virgin Radio.
i understands the Queen approached the BBC about reviving 500 Words, a move which had Evans’ full support.
An insider said: “The Queen initiated contact with the BBC and Director-General Tim Davie put the full weight of the BBC behind reviving the competition, moving it from radio to TV and exposure on The One Show and BBC Breakfast.”
At a Palace reception for the competition final this week, the Queen said she had doubts about whether it would be brought back before “the very kind people at the BBC” listened.
The return of 500 Words attracted 44,000 entries, with the Queen hosting a star-studded final at Buckingham Palace this week.
Charlie Higson, the Fast Show comic actor and best-selling children’s author, who returned as a judge, said of the Queen: “She’s been a huge supporter of this, really keen on promoting literacy.
“And it was really down to her that the competition came back, she twisted a few arms and said ‘Look, this is a really good thing, you’ve got to carry on.’”
At the reception, the Queen was joined by celebrities, including Tom Hiddleston and Oti Mabuse, who read out some of the stories.
The Queen said to Hiddleston: “I never ever thought we were going to bring it back again, but the very kind people at the BBC did listen, thought it was a good idea and here we are.”
Evans’s backing was also crucial. A BBC source said: “As the man who brought it to the airwaves, Chris Evans remains 500 Words’ greatest fan and has been cheering on its success and has remained involved behind the scenes.”
It is not the first time the Queen, a keen reader, has used her influence in the literary arena.
As Queen Consort, she urged authors to resist curbs on freedom of expression in an apparent reflection on the backlash against changes to Roald Dahl’s books.
The King and Queen themselves feature in several of the 500 Words finalists’ stories. One imagines King Charles replaced by an imposter and locked in a Palace basement.
Another finds the King having a “silly” day, changing the train timetables at Euston station and planning to “do a gigantic trump through a school classroom window”.
Higson praised the competition for asking children to write “without fear of spelling, grammar or punctuation errors”.
The Young Bond books author said: “The stories we’re always looking for are the ones that really strongly show the personality of the child.”
One finalist’s story “was badly laid out, there was no punctuation, not a single full stop or comma in it”.
“But we could tell it was from a kid who had really just loved writing it and was having fun and that’s what we’re looking for.”
This year’s judges, including Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon and Malorie Blackman, also attended the reception at the Palace.
Each of the finalist’s stories are available to read now on the BBC Teach website.
The winners, in the age five to seven and eight to eleven categories, will be revealed in a special edition of The One Show on Thursday, to mark World Book Day on 7 March.
Oti Mabuse, the former Strictly dancer, who has published a series of children’s picture books, told i: “Having correct spelling or grammar is not important for children writing. It’s the emotion behind a story, the creativity and the imagination.”
“The quality and range of the winners’ stories was unbelievable. It’s inspired me – I’ve got a lot more writing to do.”
The 500 Words competition “hits at the heart of our public purposes to inform, educate and entertain young audiences and is a great compliment to the work we do on BBC Bitesize and BBC Teach,” the BBC source added.
The One Show presents the 500 Words final, 7pm BBC One, Thursday March 7
Source link
credite