The competition this year has again been very successful. We received 111 entries from 51 schools across England and Wales. These broke down into 39 stories from Year 7 pupils, 41 from Year 8 pupils and 31 from Year 9 pupils. Their stories came from all periods and places in the past; they ranged from Ancient Egypt to post war Europe and the July bombings in London. The quality of stories was best from Year 7 and from Year 9, who in particular wrote shorter and more controlled stories. Pupils in Year 8 tended to write very long, over ambitious stories and the judges decided to award only one of the two prizes available to this year group. Instead a third award was made to Year 9. In some cases pupils had clearly worked as a Year group writing stories set in a particular period, in others as members of a history club or as part of the provision for gifted and talented pupils; whilst some had written entirely on their own. All were remarkably creative.