About Manchester 500 Words

The Trafford 500 Word Competition was first launched by Wendi Swan in January 2021, when the country went into lockdown.

Thanks to continued sponsorship and support from SEED at the University of Manchester, the competition has now expanded to become an annual competition that covers all of Greater Manchester.

We hope that school lockdowns will be a thing of the past. However, children have been undeniably affected, sometimes in a loss of learning and often in a loss of confidence. We hope that by being given the opportunity to take part in the competition, that a little of this will be redressed.

It is intended that this competition will give excite and enthuse the children and encourage them to write for pleasure and purpose. We hope that they feel a part of a writing community, where imagination and creativity are celebrated.

Each year the children are all given the same starting point as a stimulus. In 2023, it was a deserted cottage in the woods, what might happen there...?