Celebrating its 10th birthday in 2020, the 500 Words competition, created by Chris Evans, is the UK's largest story-writing competition for children aged between 5 and 13. This year the competition attracted a staggering 134,709 entries. Owing to the global coronavirus pandemic, a special virtual final was organised with some amazing celebrity guests taking part.
If you are wondering how your school can get involved take a look at our Schools Pack for Summer Reading Challenge 2020.
The Summer Reading Challenge helps get three quarters of a million children into libraries every year to keep up their reading skills and confidence. Find out much more about how to participate, and about the 2019 theme Space Chase, here.
Chatterbooks reading clubs help children build a lifelong reading habit. We estimate that almost 9,000 children belong to Chatterbooks groups, which can be run by anyone with a passion for reading. Find out more about Chatterbooks here.
Read our key information for Summer Reading Challenge coordinators
Find out how schools can get involved and benefit from the Summer Reading Challenge.
Your donations will go a long way to helping us improve children's literacy. Find out how to give here.
Reading for pleasure is more important to children’s successes than education or social class. The Summer Reading Challenge gets three quarters of a million children into libraries to keep up their reading skills and confidence during the long holidays while Chatterbooks reading groups help build a lifelong reading habit. Because everything changes when we read.
