Chris Evans to launch kids' 500-word writing competition in support of Black Lives Matter

CHRIS Evans has launched a kids' writing competition to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Virgin Radio Breakfast Show host urged young Brits to have their voice heard as part of the world's largest story-writing competition.

The Chris Evans' 500 Words: Black Lives Matter competition is intended to encourage important conversations at home, at school and across the nation on the issues emerging from the movement.

Chris is relaunching the contest this year after the Beeb unexpectedly canned the hugely successful event this month after ten years.

The competition was created and launched by him in 2011 when he was presenter of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

He has teamed up with Michael Underwood and Angellica Bell – who are also on the judging panel, along with Malorie Blackman – to encourage children aged five to 13 to put their thoughts on the global conversation into words – but no more than 500.

Entries can be in various forms, including poetry, and should be drawn from the children’s own thoughts and experiences.

Presenter-turned-teacher Michael, 44, says the best entry will win a “money-can’t-buy prize with lots of different elements” but it will certainly involve going behind the scenes of a top TV show.

Plus, many of the top stories will be read out on Chris’s Virgin Radio show by special guests.

The One Show host Angellica, 44, says: “We both started our careers in children’s TV and know first-hand how open and honest young people can be.

“Giving them this platform to express how they feel on the subject is essential and empowering.”

The beloved competition has previously seen more than a million stories submitted on topics about everything from technology to climate change.

The popular initiative encourages children to tap into their own creativity and imagination, using storytelling to share their experience and understanding of how different ethnicities and cultures interact.

One hundred of the stories could even be collated as a book.

The 500 Words team said: "The narratives we write and share matter. We ask children to draw on their own experiences and feelings to create a story that can be as imaginative and visionary as they want.

"Storytelling is a must!"

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It will be open from 6:30am on Monday 29th June until Friday 3rd July at 11.59pm 2020.

Four semi-finalists in teach age group will be chosen between July 13 and 16.

The winner will be announced on Friday July 17.

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