Ideal Idol: The Winner

We’re delighted to announce the winner and runner up for Ideal Idol, WriteMentor’s brand new competition for ideas right from the early concept stage, judged by agent Deirdre Power from David Higham Associates.

Commenting on the shortlist, Deirdre said: “So many of these were really fantastic, so it was a really tough call. I didn’t read any of the supplemental material until after I had judged, and I tried to steer clear of my personal preference or ideas I was most interested in from a taste perspective. Instead, I tried to focus on how well the pitch worked, and for the opening passage, how well it delivered on what the pitch promise, along with how much it gripped me and compelled me to keep reading. There are lots of ideas in here I maybe would have gravitated to in a bookshop, but I wanted to judge based on the pitch and how well-crafted it was. Everyone’s entries made my job very hard!”

Congratulations to both the winner and the runner up, and thank you Deirdre for judging!

Winner: Dewey Decimal is My Friend by Kirsti Sinclair (Middle Grade)

Ways to be Me x Lottie Brookes

Nothing can persuade anxious Daisy (11) to go on the school trip. Not Frozen: the Musical.
Not even BFF, Saff. But when know-it-all Charlie says she’s ND, Daisy sets out to prove him
wrong. But what if he’s right?

Judge’s comments: “I loved this pitch. It’s relatively straightforward – no saving the world stakes here, but it still has a really strong sense of what’s important to the main character, so the stakes still feel high, and the emotion of what’s happening is still clear. There’s even a nice reflection of the manuscript’s tone here for Daisy. The voice in the opening passage really shines through – you immediately feel really close to Daisy, and there’s a good sense of it leading somewhere. Normally I like to be swept up in the action of the scene, but this works just well enough setting it up, I would happily keep reading from this point, as long as the momentum kept going. Daisy’s incredibly relatable, and her thought process seems pitched perfectly for the age group.”

Runner-up: The Foreshadowing by Suzie Good (Young Adult)

Echo Bell is visited by foreshadows: the premature ghosts of people about to die. If
Echo can save them – she will. But when she is visited by her own foreshadow, Echo
has one week to prevent her own death and stop herself falling for the boy who will
cause it.

Judge’s comments: “This was excellent – the pitch gave me such a clear sense of stakes and set up something unique and interesting. The opening page is also really strong. Word choice, turns of phrase, they all feed in, but it felt like it was just the right age and there was a good blend of action and observation. I’m really interested to see where this one goes!”

The finalists in full

A huge congratulations also to our finalists! The competition was so tough, so making it to the final 20 is an exceptional achievement and suggests your story idea really does have legs! Go forth and write these and we’ll look forward to seeing them on the shelves in the future!

Don’t miss out on entering our next writing competition

Thanks to the success of our first Idea Idol, we’ll be running this competition again soon. Plus, before the end of the year, we’ll be opening entries for our annual Picture Book & Novel Awards. Stay up-to-date on these competitions plus further writing opportunities by subscribing to our free weekly newsletter.

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