BBC's 500 Words returns with Francesca Simon as a judge

Francesca recently appeared on BBC Breakfast to mark the return of 500 Words, the BBC’s most successful children’s writing competition.

Francesca is one of the competition judges, alongside Malorie Blackman, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Charlie Higson and Sir Lenny Henry.

She is pictured here with the presenters and to the left, Jonathan Douglas, CEO of the National Literacy Trust.

Find out more about the competition here. Entries will open in September, so there’s plenty of time to start writing over the summer.

Francesca Simon joins Jonathan Douglas on the BBC Breakfast sofa

Fabulous Francesca Facts

"Families are great sources of comedy because they are about people trapped together. Only the parents chose to be there and the rest of you are stuck with these people that you might not necessarily like"

"Nobody feels emotions like children and with Henry, the war is constant and total. Anyone who has lived in a family has these shared experiences - the car journey from hell, nits or vomiting"

"I’ve never met a child who doesn’t love hearing stories. It’s a good way of introducing them to books and it’s a great way of getting them to understand stories that they might not be able to read themselves"

"We all love stories, it all helps making sense of the world"

"Horrid Henry speaks to the impish, rebellious child in all of us"

"My first book was called Papa Forgot and was published in 1993"

"I’ve written over fifty books"

"My birthday is 23rd February"

"I’m a bit scared of the dark"

"My hobbies are reading, cooking and going to the theatre"

"My favourite author is Anthony Trollope"

"My most disliked food is beetroot"

"My favourite colour is aquamarine"

"My favourite food is scallops"