About The Journey
The winning story in Years 5 and 6 in the ISEB and IAPS 2026 Time to Write competition, The Journey, is a clever and imaginative story told from an unexpected perspective. As time runs out on a challenging journey fraught with obstacles, worry and doubt, a pair must work hard to support each other the best they can in order to achieve their ultimate goal.
“This clever, original and innovative interpretation of the theme kept us guessing right until the end.” The Time to Write judging panel.
About the writer
Gabby Manning is from the UK and was 9 years old at the time of writing The Journey. Reflecting on her story, she said, “The Journey is a short story about an adventure where two friends learn to work together and to be positive even when they think it is pointless. At the end there is a big twist which might surprise you, where you find out the true identity of the characters. My inspiration for The Journey was an art project that we did in school so when I saw the theme I thought I should write a story based on it. At first I thought it would be quite complicated but when I started planning I came up with an amazing idea for an exciting story. I thought about what key things would happen in the adventure and about some moments where the characters are feeling quite stressed and worried.”
About the illustrator
Leila Dowson is an illustrator from Leamington Spa, UK. She is passionate about creating fun characters and enjoys bringing stories to life through digital illustration. She is currently a student at Arts University Bournemouth.
The Journey
Written by Gabby Manning
Illustrated by Leila
Dowson
“Come, Come!”
“I’m trying to and I’m nearly there.” I shouted. But I was nowhere near. Getting through was incredibly hard. I had to wriggle my way up but being in a tight, narrow space made it difficult. The dangerous thing about going in was being squashed, squeezed and scratched. I tried to clear my mind from all the thoughts but all my worries came flooding in. My worst fear was if I wasn’t there by the end. If that happened it would take ages to get it finished and they would be in trouble.
“Go away!” I said out loud by accident.
“Hey, that’s rude. I’m trying to get you through” he snapped.
“Sorry, I was talking about my thoughts.” I waited for a reply but there was dead silence. I felt bad as I didn’t mean to say it to him. Will he help me anymore? Will I be stuck here forever? I thought of things I could do to clear away negative thoughts. Think of what will happen when I get through to him. But that gave me more pressure. Think of the good times we’ve had together. But nothing seemed to help. “I’m never going to get there.”
“Hey are you still there?” he asked. Phew. He was there and I was safe… Hopefully.
“Just a few more tries” he encouraged me. “Now push and pull. I used all my strength that was left in me. It was all down to me, well us.
Finally, I was through and we were together as strong as can be. Then we went up again. I pushed as if I was a strong man lifting the sky. Like Atlas carrying the sky on his shoulders. We lifted our heads above the world of doom and a wonderful sight met our eyes. The sun was shining and the birds were singing a beautiful melody. The sky was as blue as the ocean and the trees were gigantic. The sun shone wherever you stepped and everything seemed like the most wonderful dream.
We couldn’t stay there long as we had to set off on our tiring journey. The walk was long but we arrived eventually. We went down and down. I heaved. I dug. I used all my energy that I had left inside me. The dig was a long one and it was cold and dark. We stopped to rest. It felt like being in a cave with no light, and there was no space to move. It felt like the walls were caving on us. One wrong step and we wouldn’t find each other again so we wouldn’t be able to get out of here. We were terrified.
I pushed as hard as I could moving quickly. We climbed for hours and I felt like we would keep going up and up and never come to an end.
We went up and down again and again like a rollercoaster and I saw more amazing sights. “Look over there!” he said. I looked and I saw a rainbow had formed in the sky. It was beautiful. But as soon we were up we had to come back down again. We dug for hours on end and soon there was very little time left. “We can do this” I encouraged him.
“Yes and we need to hurry,” he replied. Hurrying involved going back down again as quickly as we could. We dug as if our lives were depending on it. We had to do one last thing to complete the mission which was securing me. It felt like my stomach was all twisted and I didn’t know what to do. For this whole journey I felt like we were tied together working as a team. It was tiring but we had made it.
This was our sewing journey. I am the thread.
THE
END
About Time to Write
Building on two successful years of Time to Write, ISEB partnered with IAPS to bring the international creative writing competition back for a third year in 2026. Time to Write was open to all schools everywhere, and asked young writers to submit short stories written in response to the theme ‘Thread’.
Almost 3,000 pupils from schools all over the world entered the competition, with entries shortlisted collaboratively by a pool of judges using cutting-edge adaptive comparative judgement technology, in partnership with RM Compare. This resulted in a reliable, fair and accurate ranking of entries.
The top ten stories in each category were reviewed by a panel of judges, including a children’s book editor from Oxford University Press, a literary events interviewer, a senior lecturer from Arts University Bournemouth, and Heads of English from St Swithun’s School, Marlborough House Vinehall School, and York House School.
To find out more about the ISEB and IAPS Time to Write 2026 competition for schools, visit write.iseb.co.uk.
ISEB and IAPS would like to thank RM Compare; the judging panel Emma Drage, James Cole, Marc Knight, Naomi Anson, Rebecca Fletcher and Rebecca Henderson; the talented illustrators who helped bring each story to life; sponsors Arts University Bournemouth, Oxford University Press, Team Elite and Voxblock; everyone involved in the shortlisting process; and, most importantly, all the young writers who took part in the Time to Write 2026 competition.
The four winning stories of Time to Write 2026
A pair of very different characters are on a difficult expedition, full of obstacles and challenges that threaten to ruin their mission. Can they work together and find the hope and strength in their friendship they need to complete their journey as a team?
The winning story in the category for writers in Years 5 and 6 in the 2026 ISEB and IAPS Time to Write international writing competition.
“Funny, quirky and a real journey of a story.”
The Time to Write judging panel.