{"id":62241,"date":"2026-08-26T14:29:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/suffolkcommunitylibraries.co.uk\/?p=62241"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:29:33","slug":"curious-creatures-short-story-winners-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suffolkcommunitylibraries.co.uk\/bn\/curious-creatures-short-story-winners-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Creatures short story winners announced!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lucy Neill | 26 August 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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We\u2019re pleased to announce the winners of our Curious Creatures short story competition which was held earlier this year for 5-15 year olds!<\/p>\n

The competition, inspired by this year\u2019s summer Reading Quest<\/a> theme, invited children to write a short 500-word story using the Curious Creatures as inspiration.<\/p>\n

Some of the stories included an elaborate heist involving a golden toilet, spectacular space adventures, a dragon hiding in a secret room at the library, and even a screenplay.<\/p>\n

Erin Hamilton, Early Literacy Youth Engagement Lead for Suffolk Community Libraries, said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a delight reading through all the amazing stories that were sent in to us \u2013 some of them handwritten and illustrated! We received nearly 300 stories, and we were lucky enough to have local children\u2019s author and illustrator Matt Roberston be part of our expert judging panel.<\/em>
\n 
\n“A huge congratulations to the winning entries!\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.3em” link_font_size=”19px” link_line_height=”1.3em” global_colors_info=”{}”]The first place winners received a large stack of books plus book tokens, with smaller stacks of books available for the runners ups.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/suffolkcommunitylibraries.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SL-Brandon-Short-Story-Winner-edit-resize.jpg” alt=”A young boy sat in a reading nook holding a winners certificate” title_text=”SL Brandon Short Story Winner edit resize” _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.3em” link_font_size=”19px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

The winning submissions from each category were:<\/p>\n

5-8 Category:<\/strong><\/p>\n