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Oxford University Press releases their findings of words and themes used in 500 Words stories

An illustration of two characters skiing.Oxford University Press
Almost 44,000 stories were studied to produce this year’s Oxford Children’s Language Report.

What does Taylor Swift and capybaras have in common? Well, they both feature heavily in 500 Words’ stories – according to the Oxford University Press’ report for this year’s competition.

One of our official partners, Oxford University Press, has compiled a report into the words and themes used in stories in the competition each year since 2014.

The analysis is studied by lexicographers, researchers and teachers. The data is incorporated into the Oxford Children’s Corpus – a large database of children’s written language in English.

Highlighting the importance of 500 Words, the report reveals a unique insight into the thoughts of children aged 5-11 across the UK. The competition received almost 44,000 submissions and each one is read and studied.

Watch three of our official judges, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Charlie Higson, break down last year’s report for children in the classroom.

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Who are children writing about?

An image of Taylor Swift playing at a concert.Getty Images
Taylor Swift was the number one celebrity featured in stories from the 2024/25 competition.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift was the most featured celebrity in children’s stories for this year’s competition – the singer had 219 mentions and an increase of 170% from the year before.

His Majesty The King was the second most mentioned famous person. Her Majesty The Queen was the seventh, often used in the context of inviting the story’s protagonist for tea at Buckingham Palace as a reward for good behaviour.

Other celebrities that ranked highly were Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They are the only footballers who have appeared in children’s top list of famous celebrities, both a decade ago and today.

An image of Taylor Swift playing at a concert.Getty Images
Taylor Swift was the number one celebrity featured in stories from the 2024/25 competition.
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How is social media influencing children’s vocabulary?

An image of a man feeding capybarasGetty Images
Capybaras were prominently wrote about in stories this year, which is thought to be influenced by viral TikToks.

Fuelled by a viral TikTok trend, the South American giant rodent, capybara, had an increase of mentions by 11%.

Back in 2015, the report revealed that vlogger was a new word in children’s writing. In 2024, a new term has been revealed; fanum tax, which means stealing food between friends. The term has been inspired by content creator Fanum, who would jokingly steal food from friends during his live streams.

The usage of Facebook, FaceTime, WhatsApp, X, Snapchat and Spotify have all appeared in stories more frequently than they did in 2023. YouTube appears in the stories but is used mostly by boys, whereas the other platforms are used more by girls.

An image of a man feeding capybarasGetty Images
Capybaras were prominently wrote about in stories this year, which is thought to be influenced by viral TikToks.
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Over a decade of study

Oxford University Press has published the findings of report since 2014. Children’s language has evolved since then and key trends and have been identified, but what has remained the same?

In 2014, Jack and Lily were the top character names in stories and remain so in this year’s competition.

Cinderella is the only fairytale character that appears in both 2014 and 2024’s list of top ten characters, alongside Harry Potter, Superman and Batman.

Gaming is still a popular trend in stories - Minecraft is the number one game written about both a decade ago and today.

Helen Foulkes, Head of BBC Education, said: “This report shows how children’s language is influenced by what they see and the media they consume whether that’s timeless favourites like Cinderella or trends on social media. We’re proud to celebrate the fantastic stories children have submitted from all across the UK to the BBC 500 Words competition and our ongoing collaboration with Oxford University Press provides crucial insights into how children’s language continually develops.”

Andrea Quincey, Director Early Years and Primary Publishing, Oxford University Press, said: “Every year it is a joy to analyse the fantastic stories submitted to the BBC 500 Words competition and produce our language research. The competition not only plays a vital role in ing children’s creative writing but also contributes to one of the nation’s largest bodies of ongoing research into children’s language. Every story is added to our Oxford Children’s Corpus, one of the world’s largest databases of children’s written English, which allows us to research and track the evolution of children’s language over the years. Whether it’s identifying new words, or ongoing themes, this research is central to understanding how children use language to engage with the world around them.”

You can read the full report here.