Stories of Joy and Hope: share your story to win a school visit from our Writer in Residence Smriti Halls

Published on: 18 October 2020

Our Writer in Residence, Smriti Halls, has launched an amazing story-writing competition for the chance to win a special visit and lots of books for your school!

Stories of Joy and Hope

Here's what Smriti wants you to do...

'I'd like children to write a story that brings them JOY or HOPE.

'It could be about anything at all... and be told in all sorts of ways - a funny story, an adventure story, a fairytale, a story full of unicorns, pancakes or porcupines... time travel, wizards or wands... rockets... rollercoasters... rabbits... whatever makes the writer happy.

'It doesn't have to be a story in the conventional sense either - it could be a string of jokes to make people laugh or a little list of ideas to change the world for the better. The most important thing is that children feel joy and hope writing it, because that way their readers will too.'

What will you win?

The overall winner of the competition will win a visit to their school from Smriti (in person or virtual, depending on circumstances) plus a copy of each of Smriti’s books for every child in Year 1 and 2

Two runners up will win a set of Smriti's books and a set for their school library.

The three winners’ stories will be featured on the BookTrust website.

More about Smriti Halls, our Illustrator in Residence

Important bits

• This is a competition for pupils of primary school age
• The deadline is 5pm on Friday 29 January 2021
• The child's name and age and an adult's contact details must be included with each entry. Please also include the name and address of the entrant’s primary school as well as the name of a teacher and an email address for the school so we can contact them
• Email your entries to: [email protected]. Please attach the entries to your email or paste them into the body of the email itself. Alternatively, send us a link from Dropbox or another file hosting service. It is best not to use a file transfer service like WeTransfer, as these links tend to expire after a set amount of time

Terms and conditions

1. To enter the competition, you must be a resident of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
2. The competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of BookTrust
3. This competition is for primary school children only.
4. Entries must be submitted by 5pm on Friday 29 January 2021
5. BookTrust reserves the right to amend the competition end date at any time, so do keep checking the website
6. Entries will be judged by BookTrust and Smriti Halls. Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into
7. The winner and two runners-up are expected to be notified in February 2021, although this is subject to change
8. The winner and two runners-up will be announced on the website February 2021, although this is subject to change
9. By entering, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions in our privacy statement.