By Lucy Neill | 26 August 2026
We’re pleased to announce the winners of our Curious Creatures short story competition which was held earlier this year for 5-15 year olds!
The competition, inspired by this year’s summer Căutare de lectură theme, invited children to write a short 500-word story using the Curious Creatures as inspiration.
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.
Erin Hamilton, Early Literacy Youth Engagement Lead for Suffolk Community Libraries, said:
“It was a delight reading through all the amazing stories that were sent in to us – some of them handwritten and illustrated! We received nearly 300 stories, and we were lucky enough to have local children’s author and illustrator Matt Roberston be part of our expert judging panel.
“A huge congratulations to the winning entries!”
The winning submissions from each category were:
5-8 Category:
- 1st Prize: Seth
- 2nd Prize: Orla
- 3rd Prize: Gideon
9-11 Category:
- 1st Prize: Melody
- 2nd Prize: Riley
- 3rd Prize: Theodore
12-15 Category:
- 1st Prize: Ireoluwa
- 2nd Prize: Sienna
- 3rd Prize: Ellsa
(Pictured above: One of the winners of the short story competition holding a certificate).
The Căutare de lectură officially started on Saturday 18 July and will take place at all Suffolk libraries throughout the summer.
Children can sign up at any time to receive their Curious Creatures case file, and each time they visit the library they’ll receive stickers to celebrate their reading journey.
Romanian 
English 
Polish 
Lithuanian 
Portuguese 
Bengali