Calling All Young Writers! Enter the Stories for Change Competition!
Guppy Books and the Federation of Children’s Book Groups are thrilled to announce Stories for Change – a short story competition for children aged 7-12, inspired by the themes of National Share a Story Month 2025 and Maggie Blue and the Lost Child by Anna Goodall.
This year’s NSSM theme, “Changing the World, One Book at a Time”, celebrates the power of storytelling to inspire environmental awareness, hope, and action.
We invite young writers to craft a 500-word short story inspired by their local environment. Whether it’s a school playground transformed by a secret garden, a mission to clean up a polluted pond, or a story of friendship sparked by a shared love for nature, we want to hear your vision of change – big or small!
Join us in celebrating the power of stories to change the world. Let your imagination soar and make a difference—one story at a time!
Themes: The environment, climate change, hope, and action Who can enter? Children aged 7-12 Deadlines: 11th April / Winner announced: 9th May Prizes:
5 x runners-up: A set of books and goodies from Guppy Books and feedback on your story from Anna Goodall.
Winner: A recording of Anna Goodall reading your story, personal writing ‘mini masterclass’ from Anna, set of books from Guppy Books, plus a signed and dedicated set of Maggie Blue books.
How to enter: download entry form from https://fcbg.org.uk/nssm/
A message from Anna Goodall:
I really like the subject-matter of this short story writing competition: nature. In my Maggie Blue trilogy, in the Dark World, human beings are so removed from nature that they can no longer hear its wisdom. Self-interest and greed have made them forget we need nature more than it needs us. Nature will always find a way to renew, to rebuild… we need it to keep us alive, but also to feed us spiritually.
If you are ever lucky enough to meet a wild animal, I mean get really close to it, then you suddenly realise that animals and nature hold true meaning in this world; they know how to live and, whilst we’re very clever and invent stuff and write plays, etc, we don’t. That’s why going outside and being in nature will always relieve you of the stress of being a human; nature just knows a lot better, so it’s good to listen to it whenever you can.
My five top tips for writing:
Pssssst… Can I let you into a secret? I think writing a short story in 500 words is really difficult. There isn’t much time for your action to unfold and for people or places to change. So my top five tips are about focusing on what you are trying to say. Here goes:
1. Where is your story set? Really picture the place or places… Can you pass this vision onto your reader? Can you do it in a sentence or two?
2. Do you have a main character? Is it a person, an animal, a place, a river, the sea? Identify who the story is about and stay with that person or thing or place.
3. What is your hero/anti-hero’s desire? What do they want? And by the end of your story, have they achieved their goal or not? Was it easy or was it hard? If it was hard, who or what made it hard for them?
4. How is your main character different at the end to how they were at the beginning? What’s changed? Is it a good or a bad change? Or are we not sure whether it’s good or bad? Or has not much changed? Have you decided to use these 500 words to create a mood or tell us about a place?
5. How do want your reader to feel by the end of your story? And why?
There’s a lot packed into these five tips, so don’t get too bogged down by them. More than anything, I want you to enjoy writing. Maybe set down whatever is in your mind/your imagination. Let it come out and then try applying all, or one or two, of these tips to what you’ve written. It might help you do a little editing…
And if it seems daunting, please remember that all writers feel that way at the start of a project (and in my case, often halfway through it too!) … all creative people do… but there is a lot of fun to be had as well.
Good luck! I really can’t wait to read your stories.
Competition Rules
1. Introduction
1.1 These Competition Rules (the “Rules”) shall apply to the Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG) Stories for Competition 2025 promotion via [email protected] and www.FCBG.org.uk
1.2 Unless otherwise specified, FCBG is the promoter in partnership with Guppy Books (“Guppy Books”, “we”, “our”, “us”).
1.3 Each Promotion is subject to specific details and, if applicable, additional rules or terms and conditions which will be featured on the relevant pages of the Promotion (“Additional Terms”). If the specific details or additional terms and conditions conflict in any way with these Rules, those Rules shall prevail.
1.4 By entering and participating in any Promotion, you (“you”, “entrant”) are deemed to have accepted these Rules, which may be amended from time to time, together with any Additional Terms.
2. Eligibility to enter Stories for Change 2025 Competition
2.1 You must be a resident of the UK and aged 7-12 years old to enter this competition.
2.2 Employees of Guppy Books, its subsidiaries, or related companies, together with their families, members of their household or any persons directly or indirectly connected with a particular Promotion are not eligible to enter such Promotion.
2.3 Unless otherwise stated, only one entry per person.
2.4 No purchase is necessary for entry into the competition.
2.5 Entrants are liable for their costs to access telephone, mobile or computer networks.
3. Promotion entries
3.1 All entries or answers must be received by FCBG by the closing date of 11th April. Any entries that arrive any later than this will not be considered.
3.2 All entries must be received via email [email protected] in any easily accessible format – e.g. PDF, Word, Pages, ODT format, or scans/pictures of written items. No responsibility is accepted for late or undelivered items. Incomplete or indecipherable entries will be void.
3.3 Unless otherwise stated, entries will not be returned.
3.4 Entrants agree to waive any moral rights they may have in any material submitted as part of an entry.
3.5 FCBG reserves the right, but not the obligation, to publish any entry, including on the website. Entrants acknowledge that the nature of the internet means that such entries will be available to be uploaded and viewed worldwide.
4. Winners and Prizes
4.1 The winner will be chosen in accordance with the details of the competition.
4.2 For all competitions, an independent panel of judges will shortlist the entries based on the criteria set out on the competition page, and then the FCBG and Anna Goodall will choose three age-category winners and one overall winner from the shortlists.
4.3 All decisions of FCBG, Guppy Books or the relevant judges will be final and unchallengeable. No correspondence will be entered into. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.
4.4 If you are a winner, FCBG will make reasonable efforts to notify you within fourteen days after the decision. It is your responsibility to make sure that you can be contacted via the contact details provided (your or your carer’s email address) and FCBG and Guppy Books accept no responsibility for the prize if they are unable to contact you.
4.5 Names of winners are available from FCBG upon request up to one month after the closing date by sending an email to [email protected].
4.6 FCBG and Guppy Books reserve the right to publish the winner’s and any runners-up’s first names and images of competition entries on the website or in any advertising or publicity material published and distributed by or on behalf of Guppy Books and FCBG. This will be age appropriate and in line with child protection guidance.
4.7 Prizes will consist of details included on the award blog page. Prizes may not be exchanged, transferred or re-sold and are subject to availability. No cash alternative will be offered.
4.8 Where prizes are to be provided by a third party then the winner will be required to complete all appropriate or applicable booking or other formalities direct with such provider and comply with any third-party terms and conditions. Guppy Books accepts no liability for any promotion run by a third party and such third party is responsible for the fulfilment of its promotion.
5. Cancellation of entries or the Promotion
5.1 FCBG and Guppy Books reserve the right in their reasonable discretion to:
5.1.1 disqualify any entrant who is in breach of these Rules or the Additional Terms or whose conduct is contrary to the spirit of the Promotion;
5.1.2 declare void any claims or entries resulting from any publication errors on this Website which materially affect the results of the Promotion;
5.1.3 add to or to waive any of these Rules or Additional Terms on reasonable notice; and/or
5.1.4 cancel the Promotion or any part of it at any time in the event of circumstances beyond FCBG or Guppy Books’s reasonable control.
6. General
6.1 FCBG and Guppy Books are not responsible, and shall not be liable for, any problems related to any telephone network lines, computer on-line systems or equipment, software failure of any email or failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, telephone lines or the Website or any combination thereof, including but not limited to any injury or damage to an entrant’s or any other person’s computer related or resulting from participation in a Promotion.
6.2 To the fullest extent permitted by law, FCBG and Guppy Books whereby excludes all warranties, representations, covenants and liability (whether express or implied) relating to Promotions and prizes. Nothing however shall exclude Guppy Books’s liability for: (i) death or personal injury as a result of its negligence; (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iii) any liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.
6.3 Unless indicated otherwise, FCBG and Guppy Books will only use an entrant’s personal details submitted as part of a Promotion for purposes connection with the Promotion. FCBG and Guppy Books will hold an entrant’s personal data for a reasonable period of time to enable them to send that entrant any prize they have won and to verify that these Rules have been complied with, and for accounting purposes. This data may be passed to third parties to enable such third parties to fulfil any necessary requirements relating to the award of a prize. Any other use of personal data will be in accordance with, and subject to, Guppy Books’s Privacy Policy.
6.4 These Rules are supplemental to the Guppy Books Terms and Conditions and the Guppy Books’s Privacy Policy.
6.5 The laws of England and Wales shall govern these Rules and any Additional Terms and any dispute arising out of them shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts.
