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Children's Fiction

2023 Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 June 2023
Entry: 
Open to unpublished, unagented children’s writers based anywhere in the world. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
First Prize: a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus the offer of representation from literary agent Davinia Andrew-Lynch of Andlyn

Chicken House 'is thrilled to announce' the opening of its 2022 writing competition, in conjunction with The Times, and with a new prize sponsored by TV production company Lime Pictures. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2023.  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2023

Information

Closing date: 
3 January 2023
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s books or adult memoirs/autobiography in the UK between January and December 2022. Entry fee: £35 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

For the fifth year running the hugely popular Selfies Book Awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch and sponsored by Ingram Spark® - will again reward three self-published authors for their publishing excellence. Submissions are now open for indie authors who have published an adult autobiography/memoir, adult fiction or children's book during 2022.
  Read more

2022 Times/Chicken House writing competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 June 2022
Entry: 
fee Open to unpublished, unagented children’s writers based anywhere in the world. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
First Prize a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus the offer of representation from literary agent Louise Lamont at LBA Books, Second Prize a £7,500 publishing contract plus an offer of representation

Now the biggest children's writing competition in the UK, the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition has been running for 12 years and has kickstarted the careers of many of the most established writers for both children and adults in the UK - including Jasbinder Bilan (Costa-winning author of Asha & the Spirit Bird), SJ Bennett (The Windsor Knot) and Nicki Thornton (The Last Ch  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2022

Information

Closing date: 
3 January 2022
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s books or adult memoirs/autobiography in the UK between January and December 2021. Entry fee: £30 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

Now in its fourth year, the 'hugely popular' Selfies book awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch - have opened and will again reward three categories of self-published books: adult autobiography/memoir, adult fiction and children's books.  Read more

Chicken House Open Coop

Information

Closing date: 
20 September 2021
Entry: 
Open to writers of children’s novels for 7 up including YA. No entry fee
Prize: 
Mentoring

24-hour open submissions period window will be open on 20 September only

The day is for finished or unfinished novels for children aged 7 up to (and including) YA, and offers the chance to gain mentorship from a member of the editorial team.  Read more

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2020

Information

Closing date: 
15 May 2021
Entry: 
Unpublished and unagented writers of children’s fiction suitable for children/young adults aged somewhere between 7 and 18 years. No entry fee
Prize: 
A worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000, plus an offer of representation from a top literary agent

Enter The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2021

Information

Closing date: 
1 January 2021
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s books or adult memoirs/autobiography in the UK between January and December 2020. Entry fee: £25 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus a profile in BookBrunch and the option of a special publishing deal provided by sponsors IngramSpark

Back for the third year, the hugely popular UK Selfies book awards - powered by BookBrunch - is adding for 2021 a third category, adult memoirs/autobiography, to the existing categories of adult fiction and children's books.  Read more

Mslexia Fiction & Memoir Competition 2020

Information

Closing date: 
21 September 2020
Entry: 
Open to women writers only from across the world with unpublished manuscripts (self-published work allowed) Entry fees - various
Prize: 
Various


Short Story

For complete short stories in any genre for adult /young adult women writers.
First Prize 3,000 plus optional week at an Arvon writing centre
Entry fee 310

Flash Fiction

Fr complete short fiction narratives in any genre for adults and/or young adult readers
First Prize £500
Entry fee £5

Children's & YA novel  Read more

The Bookbrunch Selfies Awards 2020

Information

Closing date: 
27 December 2019
Entry: 
All titles submitted need to have been published in English since January 2018, and entries will be accepted from authors based in the UK who are predominantly or only self-published. Entrance fee of £25+VAT per title, and all those submitting work will receive six-month subscriptions to BookBrunch.
Prize: 
£1,000 in each category

Submissions are open for the second year of the Bookbrunch Selfies Awards in the UK.  Read more

The Caterpillar Story Prize 2019

Information

Closing date: 
30 September 2019
Entry: 
Open to all writers over 16 Entry fee €12
Prize: 
First Prize €1,000, Second Prize a week’s retreat at the marvellous Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co. Monaghan, Ireland.

This annual award is given to the best story (of no more than 1,500 words) written by an adult for children aged 7-11.
Anyone can enter, as long as you are over 16 and your story is previously unpublished.


THE JUDGE

We are delighted to announce that Kelly McCaughrain will judge The Caterpillar Story Prize 2019.

HOW TO ENTER  Read more

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22 May 2023 - What's new

May 2023
  • 'For God's sake, never use a metaphor and then explain it... You can assume a world from so little and readers will.
  Read more

'Never use a metaphor and then explain it'

22 May 2023

'For God's sake, never use a metaphor and then explain it...

You can assume a world from so little and readers will. So I'm more interested economy than encyclopaedism, in how little you can get away with rather than how much you can cram in...

I don't want to write puzzle stories that can be decoded to the correct answer...  Read more