UPDATE: The competition is now closed.

In London, on the 1st September, we recreate the legendary moment where the Hogwarts Express begins its journey to Hogwarts, and this year at King’s Cross Station, fans can expect a big Harry Potter celebration with some new surprises to look forward to. But, as always, one tradition remains the same every year: we simply must count down to 11 o’ clock, to send the train on its way in style!

This year, we have a fresh competition – where one young winner based in the UK & Northern Ireland could have a key role in the countdown. Here’s what you need to know.

For the full list of terms & conditions for this competition, please view here.

The competition is open to people aged 5-17 based in the UK & Northern Ireland

With apologies to our more seasoned Harry Potter fans out there – this competition is for the next generation of aspiring witches and wizards! So, if you are the parent or guardian of someone that would be interested… let them know!

You’ll need to submit a countdown video to enter

What you need to do to enter your child into this competition is to send us a video of the entrant counting down the numbers from ten to one. Remember to tell the child you are entering to enunciate, take lots of deep breaths, and project as best they can. And have fun with it!

One other thing, you will also need to include the name of the child being entered, their date of birth, postal address, the telephone contact details of the parent entering on behalf of the child and the child must be based in the UK & Northern Ireland.

Now for the technical bits: make sure the video is a maximum of 20 seconds, that the file is no bigger than 10MB, and that you submit in either a .mov or .mp4 format. Then, please send your videos to [email protected] as a shareable link (attachments will NOT be accepted, sadly!) – such as Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer, for example. We will not accept YouTube links either – sorry! And we definitely won’t accept owls carrying videos, in case you were wondering.

And please note that entries will close at 11.59pm BST on Monday 7th August.

Your prize package will be simply spellbinding

As well as being invited to King’s Cross Station on the 1st September to help us countdown to 11 o’ clock, the winner of our competition will also get...

• First entry to our special King’s Cross station fan zone on the day itself
• Travel to London and accommodation with a parent/guardian
• A bundle of Wizarding World merchandise from the Harry Potter shop
• Wizarding World London Breaks-Ultimate Experience: 1 night accommodation and 2x tickets to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. As well as 2x tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for Winner and one parent/guardian – to be redeemed at a later date.
• In the words of Albus Dumbledore: eternal glory! But we’re sure you knew that already.

So that’s it! And if we could give you some Felix Felicis for a bit of extra luck, we would. Happy counting!

For the full list of terms & conditions for this competition, please view here.

This is one of just many exciting things happening around Back to Hogwarts season for 2023. Find out how else we are celebrating this year, be it physically or digitally, right here. You can also sign up to our handy newsletter at the Harry Potter Fan Club, to be kept constantly in the loop.