The Duchess of Cornwall joined Chris Evans to announce the winners of a children’s short story competition this morning.
Camilla, 71, was elegant in a cornflower blue dress as she joined the DJ, 53, at Windsor Castle to present prizes for BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show’s 500 Words competition.
The Duchess, who has been involved with the project for a number of years, greeted the former Radio 2 host like an old friend before meeting the six winners of this year’s competition, who are all girls.
Stars including Michael Sheen, David Walliams, Hugh Bonneville, Konnie Huq and Helen McCrory turned out to read the six winning stories from the stage.
Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, 71, attended the live broadcast of the award ceremony for a children writing competition. Pictured: Greeting Chris Evans
Camilla congratulated some of the Gold Award winners of the competition: Eve Molloy (left) and Esme Harrison-Jones (right)
After the ceremony the Duchess attended a reception for the award winners, authors and supporters at Windsor Castle. Pictured talking with BBC presenters
500 Words is the UK’s most successful short story-writing competition for children between the ages of 5 and 13.
It was launched back in 2011, by Chris Evans, and the presenter remains involved despite having left the BBC.
The Duchess of Cornwall returned as Honorary Judge, where she read and debated the top 50 stories of the competition with an author panel consisting of Malorie Blackman, Charlie Higson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Francesca Simon.
Gold prize winners take home Chris Evans’ height in books, silver winners take home the more diminutive Duchess of Cornwall’s height in books and bronze winners receive their own height in books.
Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Zoe Ball, who was at the event alongside her Breakfast Show predecessor Evans, said it was an ‘honour to meet the fabulously talented writers of the 500 Words-winning stories.’
Pants! by Mya Dainty won the silver award in the five to nine-year-olds category for being ‘laugh-out-loud funny.’ It tells a story from the point of view of a pair of pants.
During the live broadcast of the award ceremony Camilla, whose height in books was one of the competition prizes, handed out awards to the winners (pictured)
Winners, BBC presenters and the Duchess of Cornwall (centre, in blue) attended the BC Radio 2’s 500 Words creative writing competition
The competition winner Eve and Esme seemed in good spirits after snatching some of the prizes and their gold awards
Eve (left) and Esme (right) proudly showed off their medals, engraved with ‘500 words’ after the name of the competition
Novelist Frank Cottrell-Boyce said: ‘The idea of a family running away from their own knickers will stay with me for a long time.’
And author Charlie Higson said: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever read a story before that was written from the point of view of a pair of pants.’
The five other winners were also female.
Snow Blood Window Frame by Eve Molloy, a ‘humorous retelling of a classic fairytale’, won the gold category in the same age group.
Fragile Freya by Rosa Moody, ‘about the fragility in all of us’, scooped the bronze, in a year when there were ‘a lot of very moving stories about anxiety and depression.’
Camilla pictured during the live broadcast of the award ceremony, which honoured the winners of the competition
Comedian David Walliams (pictured) was also at the ceremony and later attended the reception at Windsor Castle
Camilla joked on stage with Chris Evans (middle) and BBC Radio 2 breakfast’s Zoe Ball as they prepared to reveal the winners
Everyone seemed in good spirits during the good-humour ceremony. Camilla was one of the honourary judges
Why Did The Chicken by Esme Harrison-Jones, the ‘hilarious struggles of daft chickens,’ won gold in the 10 to 13-year-old category.
Tyrannos-oral Hygiene by Millie Robinson, about a T-Rex with toothache who needs a trip to the dentist, won silver, and A Walk In The Park by Beth Helliwell took bronze.
Since its launch in 2011, more than 900,000 children have submitted stories for the competition.
All the children, parents, authors and personalities who attended the reception in Windsor after the live broadcast
Cheek to cheek: Chris Evans and Camilla seemed delighted to greet each other at the start of the day (pictured) as Tony Hall looked on
Life of the party: As they went through the different winners, Chris, Camilla and Zoe were all smiles (pictured)
Celebrities in attendance, such as Michael Sheen (pictured), read excerpts from the competition entries to the crowd of children present in Windsor
Tony Hall meeting with Camilla before the live broadcast of the ceremony in Windsor (pictured)
From left to right: David Walliams, Helen McCrory, Chris Evans, the Duchess of Cornwall, Zoe Ball, Hugh Bonneville with competition winners