Skylark Literary Magical Competition
Amber Caravéo, former editorial director at Orion Children's Books, is launching a competition for unpublished writers at her new agency, with judges from Puffin, Orion and Macmillan Children's Books.
Caraveo ‘s Skylark Literary is looking for unpublished, middle-grade writers. It will be judged by Fiona Kennedy, m.d. and publisher of Orion Children's Books, Ben Horslen, editorial director at Puffin Fiction and Venetia Gosling, publisher for the over 6s at Macmillan Children's Books.
"We decided to go middle-grade for this first competition as middle-grade books are really the heart of the children's fiction market and it seems to fit nicely with the Christmassy time of year," said Caraveo. "We will be looking at running similar competitions in the future for younger fiction and YA if this one proves popular."
Caraveo said winning the competition will give aspiring authors "the best possible chance of ultimately seeing their work in print", adding: "Too many aspiring authors feel lost when it comes to building their careers because they aren't insiders to the publishing world, so we also aim to give our winner useful insights and advice."
Entries must be made by email only to comp@skylark-literary.com. Please note that any hard-copy entries will not be accepted or returned.
Entries are limited to fiction aimed at middle-grade readers (i.e. readers aged 8-12 years).
Entries must take the form of a one-page synopsis and the first three chapters of the novel submitted by email as attached Word or pdf documents. The ‘subject' of your email should read ‘Competition: [insert title of your novel] by [insert your author name]'.
Entries must include the anticipated word-count of the full novel.
Writers can enter via the website. The competition closes on Christmas Eve this year and the winner, who will receive a one-to-one editorial critique of their manuscript and will be considered for a contract, will be announced in the New Year.