The results are in! Jana reads the winning entries from our Writing Competition. We asked you to write about Birthdays, good birthdays, disastrous birthdays, any type of birthday. And here are the amazing winning entries. Of course kids who grow up listening to Storynory are wizards with words!
Hello, This is Jana and this episode of Storynory is a little bit different. Because we didn’t write the stories this time – YOU DID ! At the end of the year we asked you to send us stories based on a birthday. It could be a lovely birthday, a disastrous birthday, any type of birthday. It’s all part of Storynory’s 20th Birthday Celebrations!
That’s right, we’ve been reading stories for 20 years. Wow that really is a long time! For details on how to join our next Competition, listen to the end of this episode or see Storynory.com.
Thank you to everyone who sent in your stories. We really enjoyed reading them. Now here’s our first winning entry. It’s set at Christmas – which is of course a very special birthday celebration. It’s by someone who I think must be one of our younger listeners. Her mum sent in her hand-written entry and some pictures that she did for us.
Lucy and the Presents
by Hannah from Alabama
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Lucy. Lucy loved Christmas. Every Christmas Lucy was on the Nice List.
But her mum did not like Christmas. So every year on Christmas Day, before Lucy got up, her mum put the presents in the trash. And when Lucy got up, there was nothing for her. So Lucy decided to go search for them.
Then it started.
First Lucy went to Alex’s house so she could get Alex. Alex helped look for the presents. They looked everywhere but they could not find them. They heard a noise. It was the cat. She was tapping at the back door.”There!” said Lucy. “Open the trash!”
There were the presents! So Lucy took them home.
The End
We really liked that story! It made us laugh. What a naughty mum to put the presents in the trash. Thank you so much Hannah from Alabama!
We’ve taken the liberty of shortening the following winning entries a little – just so we could fit more in. This is another very amusing story by somebody who is a bit older.
The No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Birthday
by Eliam from Oregon, USA (age 12)
When it comes to birthdays, they are usually enjoyable. My birthday, however, backfired horribly.
A few weeks earlier, I had been at the State Fair. I spent a token on a Zoltar machine – one of those “wish-granting” machines. When it lit up, I wished for the best birthday ever. A card slid out that read: “ruoy hsiw sah neeb detnarg.” I thought it was strange, but I didn’t worry about it.
On my birthday, things quickly went wrong. My best friend Rico went to get some artichoke dip and it exploded in his face. The piñata burst open and released nothing but sawdust and a baby spider. When I blew out the candles on the cake, it lifted off the plate, flew over the fence, and landed on the bride at our neighbours’ wedding. Guests started throwing food at us, and we ran inside covered in pork, Alfredo sauce, and cake.
After that, we lined up to shower. Mine was either freezing cold or burning hot, and I ended up with a bad burn on my back.
The next day, my brother decoded the message from the Zoltar machine. It meant that whatever I wished for would have the opposite effect.
So that was my birthday. I just hope next year will be better. I mean, the same thing can’t happen twice to the same person… right?
Eliam Waite, who is 12 years old and lives in Albany, Oregon, USA.
Thank you Eliam, that was a really disastrous birthday! With lots of creative catastrophes.
We of course have listeners from all over the world. We are starting to notice more of our audience coming from Africa. Which is where the next story comes from.
Hi ,my name is Mila Rose. I am 12 years old ,my birthdate is 12 April 2013’.
I live in Zimbabwe .I apologize to the lateness of my story(I am a very slow typer) –
(Dont’ worry Mila, it reached us by the end of the year)
Me and my siblings love Storynory ,it has helped us through many a long car journey.
Give my love to Bertie ,
In eager anticipation ,
Mila Rose
30 December 2025
By Mila Rose
Future Vision
by Mila from Zimbabwe (age 12)
In 2046, a girl named Mandy looked out over her city. There were cars, factories, and tall buildings, but also patches of blue sky and a few parks. Every Saturday, Mandy and her mum escaped to the countryside, where it was quiet and full of birds. Mandy believed it would always stay that way.
At school, no one cared about rubbish or nature. Bins were too far away. Besides, who had time?
On New Year’s Eve – the night before Mandy’s twelfth birthday – the lights in her flat suddenly exploded. Glass shattered in the kitchen. Armed with a torch, Mandy crept forward and found a strange woman standing there: tall, sharp-eyed, dressed in a black suit full of gadgets, and eating icing from Mandy’s Christmas cake.
The woman said her name was Di. She claimed to be a time traveller.
Before Mandy could protest, Di activated a strange device and the world twisted into a tunnel of mirrors, each one marked with a future date. Mandy saw protests to save the countryside, then bulldozers tearing down the cottage she loved. Finally, Di pushed her through a mirror labelled 2140.
They emerged on top of a skyscraper. Mandy’s city was unrecognisable – choked with smog, crowded with factories. Below them, thousands of people queued wearing gas masks, waiting to board enormous spacecraft.
“There’s no clean air or water left,” Di said. “They’re leaving Earth.”
Mandy cried, overwhelmed by what she saw. Di placed a hand on her shoulder and told her why she had brought her here.
“You have to change this,” Di said. “Speak out. Teach others. Save your future.”
As the world faded, Di revealed her real name: Mandy Hoffman.
Mandy woke in her room, her cat warm on her lap, the clock one second from midnight. It was a birthday she never forgot.
Thank you Mila, that’s a very interesting story. Birthdays are a time to imagine your future self and your future world. It’s a bit gloomy but it’s up to us to make sure things turn out better. Finally, we have a story from India, from Sarah who is one of our most loyal listeners. It’s very well written, but we had to cut it a bit to fit it in. Sorry about that Sarah. By Sarah from India , with help and suggestions from her cousin.
My Worst Birthday
What could make a birthday unforgettable for all the wrong reasons? Many things, perhaps. But my worst birthday painted a picture I never expected to frame in memory.
I was in high school, in Grade 10—a year that feels less like a class and more like a battlefield. With state and national authorities conducting the annual exams, pressure built quickly. Parents hoped for toppers, and every internal test suddenly mattered.
My half-yearly exams were underway, meant to prepare us for the ultimate challenge: the board exams. Ironically, the final paper was Mathematics—on my birthday. Maths, of all subjects. Though it was my favourite, after Physics, I was still anxious. Friends and teachers joked that it was a cruel birthday gift.
The paper was difficult and lengthy, testing deep analysis, just as expected. I knew the concepts and felt confident. Things went well—too well, perhaps. I either lost track of time or became trapped by perfection. Then reality hit.
The two and a half hours were long gone. I had been writing for over four hours, yet two ten-mark questions still stared back at me, along with several smaller ones. There was nothing more I could do. I submitted the paper and left the hall, chest tight, eyes burning. Those unanswered questions cost me marks—not my final board results, but something more personal.
To others, it might seem like a small academic setback. To me, it felt sharper. My birthday was ruined by my favourite subject’s betrayal. Doubt replaced certainty. The confidence I was known for faltered, and anxiety crept in.
But the day was not entirely lost. That evening, my family took me to a newly opened restaurant where robots served food. Those gliding, artificial waiters somehow lifted my mood. Laughter returned, the heaviness faded, and the presence of one of my favourite cousins made it feel warm again—imperfect, but special.
That birthday taught me something lasting: even the worst days hold small pieces of joy, if we choose to see them.
Happy 20th Birthday, Storynory! Thank you for the wonderful stories that kept me company during lockdown—and still brighten my gloomy days.
Sarah
And thank you Sarah for listening to us so loyally. We really liked your story! It feels very real!
Now as promised, here’s how you can enter our next competition. Send it to us by Valentine’s Day – February the 14th. But don’t worry, you don’t have to write any romantic mush. As it’s chilly here in England, we thought you could write to us about Snow. Any story involving snow, snow balls, snow men, snowed in, skiing, tobogganing – or maybe snow turning up in an unexpected place. It’s all up to you. But this time, we are opening the competition to our Supporters. You can visit our website Storynory.com to see how you can support us. We’ve set up a new Kofi account because we find it simpler to use than Patreon. However, you can support us any way you like Patreon, Paypal whatever. Just say so in the email. Send it to Bertie at Storynory.com. There will be more details on the Website. We’ll be running a competition every month, so jump in and join us. Supporters can also request shout outs at any time. And if I were you, I’d join soon, because when we have millions of supporters it will be that much harder to win! And right now, we really need your support. So you’ll be helping a good cause – Stories for the World! Bye for now Jana.
