March 2015 marked the opening of the first annual KalliKids Short Story Competition. With help from KalliKids' ambassador and best-selling author, Joanna Rees, we set "Shine" as the theme and gave entrants the freedom to adapt "Shine" to whatever it meant to them, with a limit to each story of 500 words.
We received over 500 entries from children throughout the UK, and were delighted to read such a creative mix of short stories with themes ranging from singing competitions to doomsday thrillers. We were captivated from start to finish.
The 12 stories included in this book are the winners and runners-up from each age category, a real achievement for these truly talented young authors.
Thank you and well done to all the children who took part, and the schools that helped to make this competition so special.