Our annual Six Word Story competition is a challenge in concise storytelling. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous six word story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” we ask our young writers to captivate us in just six words – a real skill and testament to their creativity in this flash fiction challenge.
Participation was high once again, with 867 young writers from 24 schools taking part. 70 entries were considered in the national competition.
Judged by Klara Armstrong, Megan Chester and Aneesah Begum from Penguin Random House, the stories chosen were a mix of witty, emotive and clever. The judges were hugely impressed by the entries, their general comments can be viewed below.
The winner and national finalists will each receive a book bundle from Penguin Random House, printed postcards of their story, a notebook and a certificate. The winner also receives a personalised notebook. Highly Commended entries also receive a selection of Penguin Random House books, a certificate and a notebook. We are delighted to be able to share this year’s winner, national finalists and highly commended entries.
And the winner is…

Our humorous winning entry ‘Two birds, one stone, big dinner.’ was written by Blake Ormondroyd from Titus Salt School in Bradford. The judges said:
Quite instantly, this entry caused a chuckle (in the absolute best way). I loved the clever play on a popular phrase. These six words made all of us judges feel really intrigued and appreciative of the approach the writer took with their entry. Blake has written something that could have various story endings and we enjoyed getting off tangent thinking about which ways the writer intended for this story to go. Ultimately, I found this six word story to be fun and engaging, and love how the writer reinvented something known to give us a good story.
Klara Armstrong, Judge, Quadrille, Penguin Random House
National Finalists

2nd place
Bench for two, now for one
Kevarni Bushell, Haringey Learning Partnership, London
This writer manages to tell so many possible stories, whilst also establishing a setting and giving the reader a sense of time passing. I love how they create a character through what’s not said, as well as what is. These six words are understated and gentle, yet packed with so much emotion! They make the bench feel real, and they beautifully blend feeling with place.
Megan Chester, Judge, Penguin Classics

3rd place
I told her – then everyone knew.
Sarah Hannah-Ettoubi, Holland Park School, London
This six word story is so strong because it caused us judges to think more about the characters referenced – the ‘her’ in this story, as well as the ‘everyone’ in this story, for a good while after we read the sentence. We reflected on our preconceptions and ideas of the characters in the story, with very little information at all! It is simple, but very evocative – giving us enough to understand the narrative, but also enough to generate further conversation.
Aneesah Begum, Judge, PRH Childrens
Highly Commended
The judges awarded Highly Commended to the following five entries. In no particular order:
Belly butterflies, Metamorphosized; Moths in throat.
Macey Smith, Skinners’ Academy, London
Somebody is downstairs, I live alone.
Pascale Loy, Co-op Academy Manchester
She made popcorn. I heard gunfire.
Henrik-Bror Berntsson, Longcroft School and Sixth Form College, Yorkshire
Fairy can’t fly. Takes up knitting.
Leah Johnson, Titus Salt School, Bradford
Pollution. Scroll. Poverty. Scroll. War. Scroll.
Sara Madan, Holland Park School, London
We’d like to thank everyone who entered, along with the teachers, writers and Penguin Random House who supported the competition.
A reminder that First Story’s 100-Word Story Competition is now open, and we would very much encourage students from First Story partner schools to enter.
