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Queen praises young writers in BBC writing competition

BBC Queen Camilla on stage with the winners of the BBC's 500 words writing competitionBBC
Queen Camilla with the winners and celebrity readers at a presentation for the BBC's 500 Words competition

Queen Camilla has praised a group of young prize-winning writers for their talents as she announced the winners of the BBC's 500 Words competition.

The contest had been on hiatus for three years and 44,000 entries were sent this year.

The Queen praised the young writers for their ability to "conjure magic with your pens" and said it was "a huge pleasure" to have the competition back.

The winners were announced on The One Show on World Book Day.

Entrants were split into two age categories - five to seven-year-olds and eight to 11-year-olds - with the Queen presenting gold, silver, and bronze awards to the winners.

The young finalists had their entries read in the Buckingham Palace ballroom by a group of celebrities who included actors Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans and Hugh Bonneville.

"In the three years that we have been without this wonderful competition, I think we have realised how much we have missed it," she said during her speech.

"You are here for the same reason that geniuses like Quentin Blake and Julia Donaldson were invited to the Palace - because each one of you is a brilliant writer, with the power to conjure magic with your pens and lead us on escapades with your keyboards."

Queen Camilla at a podium for the BBC's 500 Words competition

She said that since the competition was held, half a billion words have "been typed typed, scribbled and tumbled onto thousands of pages by children across the UK", read by volunteers and sent to Oxford University Press to form the biggest collection of children's writing in the world.

"That means that between you, you have created more than a million stories of thought-provoking adventure for future generations to study and enjoy. Thank you to everybody who has taken part in 500 Words - it is a huge pleasure to have you back."

The Queen is a patron of a number of literary organisations and has been supporting the children's writing competition since 2015.

The competition was first launched in 2011 by Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2's breakfast show in 2011, the popular UK-wide contest continued with his successor Zoe Ball until 2020.