BookTrust research shows that sharing stories builds bonds, and that social experiences built around reading strengthen intrinsic motivation to read.
We are asking children to tell us in 350 words or less, who they most want to share a story with and how they would like to share it. Annotated drawings/graphic novel-style entries are also welcomed. The competition is open to children in Years 3 to 8.
There are many different ways to share a story e.g. reading aloud to a sibling; talking about what you’ve read with your teammates; sending a message to a friend about a brilliant book that you’re reading; recommending a hilarious book over a video call complete with funny voices…we’re sure you will be able to think of lots more ways to spread the story you love!
The competition will be judged by a BookTrust panel, with guest judges including award-winning bestselling authors Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Nathanael Lessore.
Everything you need to know about the competition
The prizes
First Prize (x1)
- £3,000 of inclusive books provided in consultation with the BookTrust Books Team and inclusive books expert, Sanchita Basu De Sarkar.
- An in-person school visit by an author of colour, organized by BookTrust in consultation with your school.
- A book to keep of the winner’s choice.
- 100 copies of the visiting author’s books so that children can have a signed book to keep after the author visit.
Runner up Prize (x2)
- A book to keep, chosen by each winner
- 100 inclusive books for each winner’s school
Highly Commended Prize (x10)
- A book to keep, chosen by each winner
All winning entries will be published on this website.
How to enter
By email - send entries to [email protected] including ‘BTR Competition’ + your school name and postcode in the email subject line. Please include the name and age of each entrant in the body of your email.
By post – address entries to BTR Competition, BookTrust, 29 Clerkenwell Road, Farringdon, London, EC1M 5RN. Please include the name and postcode of your school and the name and age of each entrant.
Entries are restricted to a maximum of five entries per year group from each school.
Deadline: Midnight on Friday 23rd October 2026
Winners announced: January 2027
BTR Competition – Spread the Story
Terms and conditions
- To enter the competition, you must be a resident of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
- The competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of BookTrust.
- This is a competition for schools and homeschooling groups, and the prize will only be sent to a named contact at a school address or homeschooling group address.
- Entries are restricted to a maximum of five entries per year group from each school.
- This competition is only open to children in Years 3–8 in England and Wales, P4-S2 in Scotland, and P4-Y8 in Northern Ireland.
- Entries must be submitted by midnight on Friday, 23 October 2026.
- There will be one 1st prize winner selected by a judging panel.
- There will be two 2nd prize winners selected by a judging panel.
- There will be ten Highly Commended prize winners selected by a judging panel.
- If a chosen winner does not respond to correspondence within one week, a new winner will be selected.
- Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The prize will not be transferable to another person.
- No part of the prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
- The prize is run by BookTrust of No. 1 Aire Street, Leeds, LS1 4PR. However, the prize will be sent out by a third party and by entering you acknowledge that your details will be passed on to them, solely for the purposes of administering this competition.
- The in-person author visit will be arranged directly between the winners and BookTrust at a time and date to suit both parties to take place before 1st April 2026.
Note for teachers:
This competition ties in with the writing curriculum (writing effectively for a range of purposes; writing to explain). It will also support delivery of the following areas of the reading curriculum:
- recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices
- identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing
- making comparisons within and across books
- drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence
- summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas
- identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning
- discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader
About our guest judges
Nathanael grew up in a North Peckham estate as one of eight children to French and Madagascan parents. Writing his first book gave him the opportunity to show his South East London childhood as the funny, warm, adventurous world that wasn’t always represented as such. Celebrating diverse characters gave Nathanael the opportunity to represent kids who otherwise would never see themselves in this light in this form of literature.
His debut was published in April 2023 and he has since won the Branford Boase Award, the Carnegie Shadower’s Medal for Writing, the Jhalak Prize, the Diverse Book Awards, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and several regional awards.
Rashmi Sirdeshpande is an award-winning neurodivergent children’s author who loves taking big ideas and making them accessible and exciting for young readers. She writes a mix of picture books, poetry, fiction and illustrated non-fiction. A former official World Book Day author and BookTrust Writer-in-Residence, her books have been published around the world and featured in a number of national and international newspapers.
About Our Inclusive Books Expert
Sanchita is the owner of the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, which was awarded the double accolade of Children’s Bookseller of the Year and Book Retailer of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024. It is the oldest running children’s bookshop in the country.
Sanchita has previously been a judge for the Costa Book Award, the Branford Boase Award, the British Book Awards, and the Week Junior Awards, amongst others. She sits on the Children’s Laureate Steering Group, and is the co-founder of Sail Fest, an organisation dedicated to promoting South Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators. She was made an Honorary Fellow at the Royal Society of Literature in 2024 and is a judge for the Children’s Booker Prize 2027.
Twitter: @childrensbkshop & @chitabds
Instagram: @childrensbookshoplondon & @chitabds
