WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Agatha Christie Festival is delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Young People’s Mystery Story Writing Competition.

Entries were invited from young people aged 8-18 years who live or school in the county of Devon. Each was challenged to write a short story involving a mystery not exceeding 1,000 words in length. Presented and judged in partnership with Libraries Unlimited, Torre Abbey and Literature Works we can now reveal our top three winners in each age category: 8-13 years and 14-18 years. Click on each title link below to read the winning stories.

Best-selling YA author, Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series, presented the prizes at Paignton Library on 13th September 2025 during the Festival’s first ‘Christie for Kids’ day.

Category 8-13 years

• FIRST PRIZE: Shakira May, 12, for COASTAL CALAMITY
• SECOND PRIZE: Harriet Copeland, 10, for MURDER AT OAKWOOD MANOR
• THIRD PRIZE: Erin Goodman, 9, for LESSONS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

Category 14-18 years

• FIRST PRIZE: Lilia Copeland, 15, for NILE DECEPTION
• SECOND PRIZE: Tabitha Sparkes, 15, for THE PURPLE POISON
• THIRD PRIZE: Bethany Moxhay 14, for THE DANCE HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN

Congratulations to our winners! Thank you to all of you who entered and whose talented stories we hugely enjoyed reading. Keep writing!

With thanks to our sponsors: HarperCollins UK, LK Publishing.