Longlist announced: 2024 WM Novel & Picture Book Awards

2024 WM Novel & Picture Book Awards Longlist

We are delighted to announce the longlist for this year’s WriteMentor Novel & Picture Book Awards, sponsored by Bonnier Books UK.

Firstly, we’d like to thank everyone who entered this year. It’s a hugely brave thing to do, to enter an award where a stranger will read your work, so congratulations to all of you – you’re on the right track!

Secondly, our thanks to our readers, a small but wonderful group of published authors who read the initial entries to spot the most promising stories for the longlist.

It’s always worth remembering how subjective awards can be and we know from past experience that we haven’t listed books which have gone onto publication and been listed in, and even won, some of the biggest awards out there. So do keep that in mind.

Our readers also shared some general feedback on the entries – from what they loved to what they felt could be improved. We hope you find this feedback useful to develop your entry and future manuscripts.

MIDDLE GRADE & YOUNG ADULT

“The entries I personally put through had a really strong voice, and I could see in the synopsis that they had really thought about the character arc. I did see a lot of very dark and sad openings which, while attention grabbing, sometimes felt out of character for the age group, or indeed I didn’t know the character well enough yet to sense the full emotional impact.”

“The standard was incredibly high this year. The entries that made me say YES were those that felt very unique – like the author had really listened to their own voice and told their own story, rather than trying to follow trends. I love it when I see something really different, something I’ve not seen before. If characters and story come from somewhere real, it shines and I’m instantly hooked. For me, really dark openings – particularly incongruously heavy ones in MG, tended towards a NO – I love a bit of darkness in MG but it has to be earned and tempered with light, particularly in the opening so it doesn’t feel gratuitous. There were a fair few of these, and when querying it’s important to remember agents won’t want to be hit with a thousand tragic openings, because that won’t make for a nice day!”

“Voice and an original take on a familiar concept were the main reasons a story grabbed my attention for the long list. So many entries were very well written, but the story itself detailed in the synopsis lacked a strong character arc and plot points. Age appropriate language and dialogue was a common issue – easily solved, but one that could make an agent/publisher worry that the writer doesn’t know their target age group. Finally, although this has been said already, I would love to have seen more joyful stories!”

CHAPTER BOOKS

“For me with the CBs it was stories that had a protagonist that was easy to get into their viewpoint with them being relatable in some way, and had a strong voice, who took the reader to different settings and had adventures that were a little different or would stand out against other CBs in the market. A straight up no would have to be any animals being hurt for me, just not appropriate for CBs.”

PICTURE BOOKS

“I found the majority of stories I saw were well thought out, planned and executed overall – what was missing was the ‘spark’. I think this comes from the writing being either a little too ‘safe’ and lacking in energy, or the story being too predictable and not overly original. What stood out to me were the stories that oozed joy and fun.”

“For the most part, I enjoyed reading the PB stories that offered a fresh perspective or explored a theme I hadn’t come across in a PB before. For me, the less successful stories were those that took a while to get going, felt a little too long or the concept and approach were a tad on the familiar side.”

Thirdly, thank you to our sponsors, Bonnier Books UK, whose participation in the awards this year has no doubt encouraged and inspired many of you to enter.

With a total of 938 entries across the 4 categories, it is clear that children’s fiction is still going strong!

Here are a few entry statistics to give an overall view of the numbers involved.

In the past we’ve put readers favourites on this post, but we decided that with over 100 titles and nearly 100 different authors being listed, that’s 1 in 9 who entered, and the introduction of the 4 categories (rather than 2 previously) that we are already giving a boost to more authors than usual.

The full longlists are below for each category (best viewed on a computer).