2022 Winners

Platinum Jubilee Short-Story Competition

As part of our celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Mint Museum hosted a short-story competition open to primary school pupils in the United Kingdom.

Pupils were asked to write a short-story of no more than 500 words inspired by Her Majesty's long reign and jubilee celebrations.

10-year-old Joshua Boholst’s won with his story 'Spyder'. Many people are afraid of spiders, but the spider in Joshua's story captured the imagination of our judging panel. He won a set of coins for himself and £5,000 worth of equipment and books for his school library.

In a special online presentation, guest judge and children’s author and illustrator Alex T. Smith read the winning story and praised the hundreds of entries. This sentiment was echoed by fellow judges Connor Allen, Joseph Coelho, Caroline Clough and Sarah Edmonds. Sarah also illustrated the winning entry.

Four runner-up prizes of Platinum Jubilee commemorative coins and a set of books were awarded, and five special commendation prizes of brilliant uncirculated coins were also awarded.

You can find all the winning stories below.