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500 Words 2015: The Final

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500 WORDS 2015: The Movie

Highlights from 500 WORDS 2015, including the spectacular live final at St James's Palace

Watch our super celebs reading the winning stories

The Vamps

Watch Will Young with the London Community Gospel Choir

500 Words in pictures

A summary from BBC News

A speech by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

A huge congratulations to our Gold Winners

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

Will Young performs at the Palace

Let's be upstanding

There are more congratulations in order for...

Congratulations our first two winners

The Vamps

With a fanfare and a flourish, it's the 500 Words 2015 final!

To celebrate the competition's fifth year Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall invites Chris Evans and the 500 Words finalists to attend a live broadcast from the spectacular St James' Palace!

Our special guests

The six winning wordsmiths will be announced live on-air, by superstar celebrity narrators Sir Kenneth Branagh, Charles Dance, Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson, Jeremy Irons, Sally Hawkins and Barney Harwood.

They'll be treated as royalty themselves as they are serenaded by live music from teen-sensations The Vamps and the wonderful Will Young. Chris' One Show co-host Alex Jones and sports reporter Vassos Alexander are also on hand to capture the reactions of our prize-winning young authors, and explore some of the palace's regal rarities.

It's been a record year!

It has been a record year for the 500 Words competition with a terrific total of 120,421 entries - that's over 60 million words! Each one was read by a fantastic team of volunteer teachers and librarians from around the UK, before being whittled down to the Top 50 finalists by the Reading Agency.

Our panel of judges - Charlie Higson, Francesca Simon, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Malorie Blackman and Head Judge Richard Hammond - then had the gruelling task of selecting 3 winners in each age category (ages five to nine and ages ten to thirteen) from this group of talented young writers.

The Gold Medal winner in each category wins Chris Evans' height in books (6ft 2") plus 500 books for their school library; the runner up Silver Medal winner receives Alex Jones' height in books (5ft 6"); while the Bronze Medal winner can look forward to reading their own height in books! All winners receive a beautifully bound copy of their story meticulously made by royal bookbinders.

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5 Amazing Facts

1. St James’s Palace was built by Henry VIII in 1531. In these rooms, Elizabeth I planned her attack on the Spanish Armada; King George VI (or Colin Firth in the King’s Speech), addressed his first council as King; and in 2010, the current Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced their engagement!

2. The State Apartments contain many precious materials, include tapestries made out of silver; chandeliers gilt in Gold, vases made out precious Malachite, and tables carved from marble.

3. Charles II, James II, Mary of York, Queen Anne and James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) were all born here and whenever a new monarch takes the throne, they are announced from the Balcony.

4. The armoury contains dozens of swords, targes, blades, pistols and rifles from the 1700s, used by royal guards over the past centuries. There’s even a shield from the 16th century which is fitted with a pistol!

5. The State Apartments contain a very intriguing fireplace built during Henry VIII’s reign. On one side, are the initials ‘HA’ for ‘Henry & Anne Boleyn’. BUT by the time the fireplace was complete, Anne was no longer with her head, so the right hand side of the fireplace only has the initial ‘H’!!!