Your words help us understand children's language...
500 Words is delighted to be run in association with Oxford University Press in 2020. Together, we hope that we'll be able to provide even richer learning material to anyone who comes into contact with our competition; whether that's teachers, parents or kids.
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You can find out more about OUP and their work .
Since 2012, we've sent every story we've received to Oxford University Press. These scholarly superstars have now collected 906,243 stories since 2012. That's over 386 million words! Our entrants have provided them with the biggest collection of children's writing in the world.
Why does that matter? Well, these stories help them to understand the language children are using and how it's developing over time, it helps them work out what kids are interested in: from politics to world events, celebrities to football, and it informs the creation of their dictionaries and learning resources for children The results from this are taught in seminars and lectures around the world and help leading figures in Education to improve the way English is taught in schools.
So that's why, if you're a teacher, you should send us EVERY story from your class...or if you're a parent, you should encourage your kids to have a go. Their stories will ultimately change education in schools...and who knows, maybe change lives.
So what do your words mean?
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2020
Find out which word spread it's way into hundreds of stories in 2020.
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2019
Global affairs had a huge impact on children’s creativity in 2019.
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Which pesky polluter littered the stories in 2018?
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America's new president captivated story writers in 2017.
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All the fun facts from 2016.
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What were our writers fascinated by in 2015?
Writing tips from Oxford University Press
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