Hugh Bonneville, Benedict Cumberbatch and More Read Children’s Stories at Hay Festival

Last week, BBC Radio 2’s The Chris Evans Breakfast Show ran a special competition meant to encourage children to write short stories. Called 500 Words, the annual event challenges children to compose a complete short story in – you guessed it – just five hundred words.

(Which is a task that, if you’ve read this blog for any length of time at all, we all know I would fail. Badly.) 

The panel of judges featured such notable celebrities as Top Gear’s Richard Hammond, children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce, illustrator Francesca Simon, children’s laureate Malorie Blackman, and Fast Show creator Charlie Higson. The judges’ group narrowed the list down to a Top 50 from nearly 120,000 entries before choosing three winners in two age categories (9 & under and 10-13).

The gold, silver and bronze winners were announced last weekend at the annual Hay Literary Festival. The Top 50 finalists were all invited to attend the event and the winning six were read – and broadcast live on the radio – by an array of notable famous folk, including Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville, Harry Potter’s Matthew Lewis, Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch, singer Paloma Faith, Barney Harwood and Dick ‘N’ Dom.

Here’s a handful of the voices you’re most likely to recognize - reading the winners from the 9 & under age group. 

The bronze entry, Should-Be’s by Juliette Lee, as read by Benedict Cumberbatch: 

Matthew Lewis reads the silver winner, No Ideas George by Robert Jordan: 

And Hugh Bonneville reads the gold story, Lost Underground by Daniel Martlaw: 

To hear all the winning entries, visit the 500 Words site.