Crossing Continents: win £5000 worth of books for your library with The Royal Mint's short story competition

December 2nd 2022

About The Royal Mint Museum Established in 1816 by the Master of the Royal Mint, William Wellesley Pole, the Museum has one of the finest collections of coins and related material in the world. Originally intended as a source of inspiration for Royal Mint engravers, a function it retains to this day, it has grown and developed into a collection about how money is made and how the Royal Mint has evolved over the last 1100 years. visit the royal mint museum website

Did you know?

• This will be The Royal Mint Museum’s third short story competition.
• The judge for the first competition was celebrated children’s author and Children’s Laureate Wales 2019-2021 Elouise Williams, the theme that year was ‘decimalisation – what’s that in old money?’
• The panel of judges for the second competition included Conor Allen, current, Children’s Laureate Wales, author and illustrator Alex T. Smith, Joseph Coelho the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, illustrator Sarah Edmonds and children’s author Caroline Clough, the topic was the Platinum Jubilee and the framed winning design was presented to the Late Majesty.

This year's competition

Open to all 8–11 year olds, pupils are asked to write a short story of no more than 500 words on a given theme. This year, to mark the 75^th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, the topic is Crossing Continents.

Each year the competition has attracted high-profile children's authors to sit on the judging panel, including now Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho, and Welsh Children's Laureate, author and illustrator Alex T. Smith. And this year is no different, with multi-award-winning children’s author (of bestselling books The Boy at the Back of the Class and The Night Bus Hero) and women’s and refugee human rights activist Onjali Q. Rauf taking on the role. Onjali will select an overall winner from the shortlist chosen by the Royal Mint Museum team.

Illustrating this year’s competition and its winning story is Chanté Timothy, an illustrator who loves experimenting with movement, vibrant colour, character design and storytelling, particularly in children’s literature.

The overall winner will receive £5,000 worth of books for their school library, donated by Peters, a framed copy of their story illustrated by Chanté, and a personal prize. Runners up and Highly Commended entries will also receive personal prizes.

About Onjali Rauf Onjali is an award-winning and best-selling children's author and activist, whose books are noteworthy in helping children understand and deal with a range of issues. Her debut book, The Boy at the Back of the Class, was met with critical acclaim and was awarded both the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Onjali is also the founder of Making Herstory, an organisation that mobilises men, women and children from all walks of life to pro-actively deal with the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK and beyond. Discover onjali's books

Chante Timothy Chante Timothy is a freelance illustrator from London who loves experimenting with movement, vibrant colour, character design and storytelling. Chante is an alumni of the Pathways into Children's Publishing programme 2019–2021, and her work can be found in seven amazing titles so far.   Discover chante's books

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