The Duchess of Cornwall visits the BBC Radio 2 studios for the 500 Words competition judging

The Duchess of Cornwall visited the BBC Radio 2 Studios in London today to help decide the 500 Words short story competition winners in her role as Honorary Judge. 

Her Royal Highness joined authors Malorie Blackman and Francesca Simon, screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, author and actor Charlie Higson and 500 Words founder Chris Evans for the judging session. 

The 500 Words competition is now in its seventh year and encourages children, aged between five and 13, to send in stories of no more than 500 words.

This year, the competition has received a record 131,798 entries and today the judges decided on the Bronze, Silver and Gold winners in the two age categories, five to nine years and 10 to 13 years.

This is the second year The Duchess has served as Honorary Judge. 

The winners will be announced during a live broadcast of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on 16th June at the Tower of London.

Before the judging commenced, The Duchess met some of the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show guests, including actor Ray Winstone and musical group Blondie.