Who's your local hero? Onjali Q. Raúf wants you to share your stories

Published on: 29 March 2021

Please note: This competition has now closed. We will announce the winners on the website in September. Good luck to all the entrants! 

BookTrust Writer in Residence Onjali Q. Raúf wants you to share stories of your amazing local heroes for the chance to win some incredible prizes...

Did you know? There are thousands of incredible super-s/heroes, working hard to help others and our planet, living right amongst us all.

They may be an extraordinary teacher, a wonderful post-wo/man, a nurse or your next door neighbour. They might even be someone in your family!

And we want to hear all about them! So pick up your pen or keypad, and send us a short story or poem, no longer than 500 words, about the person who you think is a s/hero, and why. (Drawings accompanying your written piece are more than welcome, but please don't send in photos!)

Final entries will be judged by Onjali Q. Raúf, and entrants will be competing for:

• First prize: A full set of 20 activist books recommended by Onjali Q. Raúf for your school library, a set of Onjali’s books signed and dedicated to the winner, and a live Q&A Zoom session for your class.
• Second prize:  A set of 10 activist books recommended by Onjali Q. Raúf for your school library, and a set of Onjali’s books signed and dedicated to the second prize winner.
• Third prize: A set of 10 activist books recommended by Onjali Q. Raúf for your school library, and a set of Onjali’s books signed and dedicated to the third prize winner.

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

Important bits

• This is a competition for pupils of primary school age
• The deadline is 5pm on Friday 16 July 2021, and winners will be announced in September.
• The child's name and age and an adult's contact details must be included with each entry. The entry itself must be submitted by an adult over the age of 18. 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
• Please note that we will only share the first name and age of the child entering the competition, and only the first name of their chosen hero
• By sending us your work, you are giving us permission to share it on the BookTrust website
• 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 16 July 2021. Winners will be announced in September.
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 Onjali Q. Raúf. Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into. 
7. Once the competition has been administrated and the winners notified, all data for the entries will be deleted in line with GDPR
8. The winner and two runners-up are expected to be notified in July 2021, although this is subject to change
9. The winner and two runners-up will be announced on the website in September 2021, although this is subject to change
10. By entering, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions in our privacy statement.