• "Anniversary", Penny Kimber, Lymm

• "Seven Steps: A Journey of Discovery" Beverly Clark, Wallasey

• "Snow White & the Seven Dwarves-in the Real World" Gerry Savill, Gravesend

• "The Seventh Commandment", Clare Girvan, Exeter

• "Book Seven Sestina", Penny Kimber, Lymm

• "Lucky?" Accidents, Pat Fido, Westbrook

• "Passing Thoughts", Belinda Macauley, Westbrook

• "Seven, Jill Taylor", Chobham, Surrey

• "Seven, John Evans", Altrincham

• "The Wolf and The Seven Little Kids", Maggie Spooner, Wilmslow

Director's Prize

• "Anniversary", Penny Kimber

• '27 Days Later", Andrew Foster, Appleton, Year 7

• "When I Am Seven", Jemima Morris, Bowdon, Year 1

• "Did You Know?" Jessica May Saunders, Lymm, Year 3

• "My Life", Thomas Hutchinson, Whitley, Year 5

• "Our Lucky Number", Abbie Hobden, Grappenhall, Year 3

• "Seven Colours of a Rainbow", Ellamae Hindley, Norfolk, Year 3

• "Seven Hours of School", Richard Hulme, Lymm, Year 4

• "The Seven Animal Kingdoms", Phoebe Allanson, Lymm, Year 5

Chair of judges, Sue Dodd, says:
A bumper crop of entries this year, and we were particularly pleased to see the increase in contributions to the Children’s Competition. Clearly schools are beginning to take an interest  - we plan to make it easier for them to submit whole-class entries next year.

Adults rose well to the one-page challenge, and there were a few innovative entries, as well as a wide range of responses in traditional poetry and prose forms. Non-fiction was under-represented and there was no script for performance. Despite the relaxing of the rules on paper colour and hand-written entries, all but a tiny minority stuck to typescript on white.

As always, a small number of entries had to be disqualified: multiple-page submission, absence of entry fee, and name on entry were all spotted, but the worst culprits were those who sent their entries late. ‘To arrive by May 1st’ is the rule!

Nevertheless, the judges’ task was a difficult one, and we were delighted that it fell to our celebrity judge, Martin Edwards the crime writer, to decide the final rankings. If you are a winner, many congratulations; if not, we hope you will try again next year when the theme will be “A-Z.”