As schools around the country celebrate World Book Day, we are delighted to announce the winners of the ISEB and IAPS Time to Write 2025 creative writing competition.

We received over 3,000 entries for this year’s competition, all on the theme of ‘Light’. The standard was extremely high, with truly creative storylines, wonderfully crafted characters and brilliant use of vocabulary and language techniques on display.

The entries were shortlisted and judged following the closing date on 2 February 2025. The shortlisting process used cutting-edge Adaptive Comparative Judgement technology on the RM Compare platform, enabling a panel of educators from schools, universities and awarding bodies around the world to create a top ten list in each category.

Our panel of literary experts read and discussed the top ten entries in each of the four categories in our final judging event, held at St Swithun’s School in Winchester last Friday. The panel included:

Naomi Anson, Head of English at St Swithun’s School.
Sarah Bentley, children’s author.
Rebecca Fletcher, literary journalist and author.
Marc Knight, Head of English at York House School and IAPS Subject Adviser.
Vincent Larkin, Senior Lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth.
Ali Sparks, children’s author.
Dr Ellen Spencer, Senior Researcher in creativity at the Centre for Real World Learning at the University of Winchester.

The winners of the ISEB and IAPS Time to Write 2025 creative writing competition are…

Years 3 & 4: ‘Hero’, St Dunstan’s College Junior School, UK.
Years 5 & 6: ‘Arcade Lights’, Aberdour School, UK.
Years 7, 8 & 9: ‘Mooncussers’, Malmesbury School, UK.
Years 10 & 11: ‘Her Current Light’, homeschooled, China.

All four winning writers will now see themselves in print, as each will have their story turned into an illustrated book! Prizes will also be awarded to the winning writers’ schools.

The runners-up in each category are:

Years 3 & 4: ‘Lights Out!’, Gayhurst School, UK, and ‘The Boy Who Stole Light’, Hilden Grange Preparatory School, UK.
Years 5 & 6: ‘Agent Kitty and the Case of the Missing Sun’, Hilden Oaks Preparatory School, UK, and ‘A Mission to Mars’, Winchester House School, UK.
Years 7, 8 & 9: ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’, Westminster Under School, UK, and ‘The Lightkeeper’s Promise’, Walhampton School, UK.
Years 10 & 11: ‘Benny’, Ormiston Six Villages Academy, UK, and ‘The Lighthouse’, Runnymede College, Spain.

Visit the Time to Write website to see the full list of awarded stories.

We thank everyone involved in this year’s competition, whether during the shortlisting, as a judge or sponsor, or as teachers motivating creative pupils to let their imaginations run riot and craft some superb stories. Most of all, we would like to thank the young writers who participated, providing us with memorable, entertaining and enjoyable stories; some funny, some sad, and others that conveyed emotion and understanding beyond their years.

It has been a tremendously enjoyable experience for everyone involved, and we can’t wait to do it all again in 2026!