The BBC 500 Words writing competition are currently taking applications to be a competition judge.

Since it started in 2011, 500 Words has received over a million stories. The success of the competition is always down to the teachers, librarians, teaching assistants who give up their valuable time to judge the first round of 500 Word stories, for which they are always extremely grateful.

The popular short story competition relies on thousands of volunteer first-round judges who kindly give up their time to read all the incredible stories they receive. Tales about supervillains, superheroes, magical faraway places... tales to make you laugh, cry or gasp in amazement. 

Once the submission stage of competition has closed in November, you will receive a batch of ten randomly allocated (anonymised) stories from Monday 13th November. The stories won't be longer than one side of A4, and you will have just under a month to mark. 

BBC 500 Words make sure that their judges don’t receive stories from their own area, so there is no chance of accidentally being allocated a story from your child or class.

Stories will be judged on the following criteria:

• Characterisation
• Plot
• Originality
• Language
• Enjoyment

Don’t worry, you can also be a judge and still submit children’s stories from your school!

You will also be entered into a random draw to attend the 500 Words Grand Final at the end of February next year. The event will be shown on a special 500 Words programme on BBC One on World Book Day Thursday 7th March.

Please note that judges will need to provide the name of a referee, who can verify they are able to mark the work of 5-11 year-olds before you can be accepted.

For more information and to apply, click here.