It was a star-studded affair at The Globe Theatre in London on Friday, as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall awarded the winners of BBC Radio 2’s #500words children’s writing competition.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall with the winners and judges of the final of BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words creative writing competition at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre. Picture by Stephen Lock / i-Images
Broadcast live by the station’s Chris Evans, the six finalist’s entries were read aloud of Tom Hiddleston, Julie Walters, Warwick Davis and Nick Jonas. The Duchess of Cornwall only met with Hiddleston a few weeks ago, as they were whittling down entries for the final.
Camilla joined Charlie Higson, Malorie Blackman, Francesca Simon and Frank Cottrell Boyce on the panel to judge the 123,000 entries for the sixth year of the competition, including one touching piece about dementia.
#TomHiddleston reads one #500Words winner’s story pic.twitter.com/xwgvJOsEGj
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) May 27, 2016
Actor Hiddleston gave the audience a rendition of his first acting role in Toad of Toad Hall, and One Republic performed too.
Ned Marshall, 12, won with his story ‘e-COURTROOM.com’, where a court case is executed in the style of a Twitter exchange. Runner-up, Clara Cowan, wrote about her grandmother’s dementia in ‘The Sands of Time’.
Camilla described this year’s entries as ‘brilliant’, adding: “It has been an almost impossible task to decide on the winners. The quality of what we read was just breathtaking. It sent shivers down your spine to read such brilliant stories coming from the minds of such young children.”
“I must say, I thought St. James’s Palace was quite special,” the Duchess continued, “but being here in the Globe Theatre in William Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary year is even better.”
Read The Duchess of Cornwall’s speech from the #500Words final here: https://t.co/KmWe9AVQcG pic.twitter.com/85Mdupdo5y
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) May 27, 2016
“Once again, the children of the UK have proved that they are amazing wordsmiths,” Chris Evans said in the apt arena of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre. “It’s been such a treat to hear the finalists’ stories bought to life at the final by our very special guest narrators.
“Keep those imaginations flowing – I absolutely cannot wait for next year!”
It was the Duchess’ job to hand out the medals to the winners, which were announced by Evans. They are as follows (links take you to the BBC to read the entries):
10-13 year olds:
- Gold: Ned Marshall (12) – e-COURTROOM.com
- Silver: Clara Cowan (10) – The Sands of Time
- Bronze: Ben Bailey (10) – The Great Cookie Quest
Very inspiring speech by Duchess of Cornwall about the ‘power of words and weaving the magic of stories’ #500Words pic.twitter.com/UWCNXLRP2B
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) May 27, 2016
5-9 year olds:
- Gold: Evie Fowler (9) – Poor Pig’s Revenge
- Silver: Katie Denyer (9) – The Grannies who Flew to the Moon
- Bronze: Fergus Gathorne-Hardy (8) – The Smoking Pipe
After the show, a small reception was held, where the Duchess and the guests enjoyed tea together.
A cup of tea for Camilla and Tom Hiddleston #500words pic.twitter.com/qIQP887uhb
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) May 27, 2016
