WriteMentor is delighted to announce the winners of its 2025 Novel and Picture Book Awards, judged by David Higham Associates, which showcases new writing talent in both children’s and adult fiction.
Picture Book Category Winner: PELICAN’S BEACH by Jennie Saywell
Runner-up: SHOW-STOPPA-STOUNDING! by Helen Hooper
Picture Book category judge Deirdre Power said: “This was such a hard decision – all of the shortlistees have a really good grasp of a great concept for a picture book, and the quality of the writing was phenomenal, especially regarding the tone for this target audience, which is a difficult thing to nail! I was looking for something with a memorable voice and a strong message at its heart, and just the right balance of humour and heart injected into it. I was also bearing in mind how accessible the text would be to a small child, in terms of the concepts or events – barring the texts that introduce elements of a specific culture, which is a separate thing! I was thinking more in the language, or how much I would expect a child to understand of a given situation or idea.”
“I’m a great lover of rhyming picture books, so I’m always keeping an ear out for one that really sings (right above all the noise about no one wanting them anymore…) so with this in mind, I was considering very carefully the rhyme and rhythm scheme, and the cadence of how the words fell. I was also keeping an eye out for those picture-book-only details – a dramatic use of a page turn, a clever interaction with the media form itself, a dialogue between the text and illustration notes that work together to build the full story rather than just supplementing images, a spatial awareness of each spread and how the text fits on it…all essential ingredients!”
“All of the entries met these requirements in spades, but I think what stood out to me about PELICAN’S BEACH was how concise and carefully crafted it was from spread to spread, which such thought given to the overall structure and the picture form. It’s quite a straightforward concept, but it hooks you in straight away and gives you highs and lows in buckets! SHOW-STOPPA-STOUNDING a very close second; the fun and excitement just leapt off the page, and it had all of these wacky interactions but so much warmth at the same time, and I think reading this one out loud would make soooo much fun!”
Picture Book category winner Jennie Saywell added: “I’m absolutely overjoyed to have won the PB category of the 2025 WriteMentor Awards! It’s an incredible feeling to have my work recognised, especially given how many talented writers entered this competition. Writing can be a solitary and quite nebulous process, so this win is excellent motivation to trust my voice and keep pushing forward. A huge thank you to Stuart and the WriteMentor team for hosting this competition and giving so many people the opportunity to get their work out there.”
Children’s Fiction Category Winner: I STILL STAND by Claire Lomas
Children’s & Young Adult Fiction category judge Christabel McKinley said: “A huge congratulations to the talented eleven authors who were shortlisted for the WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award – reading your stories has been a wonderful journey through different worlds and voices, and all with the utmost professional polish. In the way that art tends to imitate life, I couldn’t help but notice a thread of the macabre running through a lot of these stories – we all know that these are scary times in the world, but also know that via writing we give children the tools to confront, understand and cope with those threats.”
“Whether facing these fears head-on or via humour, well done to every single author involved who wrote an engaging story for children to escape into. Amongst the very strong candidates, the story that really stood out to me for its authentic voice and unflinching central subject matter was I STILL STAND. Choosing to be brave is difficult for adults, but not for children – and, in this love letter to trees, Mother Nature, and the sanctity of home, we see three of them screw up their courage and stand up to protect the things they love. It moved me, and I suspect would similarly inspire any child who picked it up. Congratulations to the author, and to all the other authors who were as brave as children in submitting their work for this award!”
Children’s & Young Adult Fiction category winner Claire Lomas added: “When my phone pinged with the email from Stuart, I was catching up with a friend and my expression was so shocked that she couldn’t tell if it was good or bad news! She had to take my phone to read the message, because I was so completely floored that I couldn’t speak! The Write Mentor Awards are a brilliant competition, and I am utterly delighted to have won the 2025 Children’s Book category, knowing full well that I am in the company of many wonderful writers. I am so grateful to everyone at Write Mentor for creating the community, and this unique opportunity to share our work. As Stuart always says, writing can feel lonely, but this competition, and the genuine warmth with which we have all been treated, proves that it really doesn’t have to be!”
Adult Fiction Category Winner: UNMEANT by S R Simmons
Runner-up: THE THEORY OF LOVE AND LOSS by Sarah Wibrow
Honourable mention: RUNNER GIRL by Su-May Tan
Adult Fiction category judge Maddalena Cavaciuti said: “The adult submissions for the WriteMentor Awards were a wonderful showcase of talent and imagination. Each story stood out in its own way – through originality of concept, unique and memorable voices, and page-turning prose. The quality of the writing across the board was exceptional, and it was a real pleasure to read each submission. Congratulations to all the shortlisted writers, and particularly to S R Simmons, whose entry absolutely captivated me from the very first line. UNMEANT offers a timely and urgent premise that I haven’t seen before, but it was the voice which commanded my attention from the get-go, introducing us to a strange, lonely and isolated young woman navigating a world which seeks to destroy her.”
Adult Fiction category winner S R Simmons added: “I’m genuinely honoured, and a little stunned, to have won. It’s a strange and beautiful thing when a story you wrote in quiet defiance connects with someone, and to be seen and recognised like this means more than I can say. I’m incredibly grateful to the WriteMentor team for creating a space that celebrates bold ideas and emerging voices.”
Full Shortlists (with names)
Picture Books
| Show-stoppa-stounding! | Helen Hooper |
| HULLABALOO AT THE PETTING ZOO | Zoe Crowest |
| Hungry Spider | Libby Hartwell |
| SUGAR FOOT AND THE PEACH PARTY | Cari Chamberlain |
| The Outrageous Wedding Problem | Sheena Garg |
| Don’t Worry Little Eggs | Anne Wan |
| Even More Beautiful | Alex Lumsden |
| Little Fairy Tailor | Laura Howard |
| Stick Run | Helen Hooper |
| KING BLING | Claire Gordon |
| Pelican’s Beach | Jennie Saywell |
Children’s
| Spike Hart and The Lost Souls in School Scares | Lucy Heaven |
| Summer at Robo Sphere | Gemma Callaghan |
| The Nighthawk Detectives | Melanie Whitmarsh |
| Code in the Castle | Marnie Forbes Eldridge |
| I Still Stand | Claire Lomas |
| Illy Blue, Who Are You? | Ellie Pulze |
| Lightfoot and Mole | Rachel Kenefick |
| Marty Hearst’s Multi-Hearse | Zoe FitzGibbon |
| The Island of Unfortunate Geniuses | shivanthi sathanandan |
| Eat My Goal! | Alex Money |
| Princess of the Moon | Matthew Cosans |
Adult
| Runner Girl | Su-May Tan |
| The Theory of Love and Loss | Sarah Wibrow |
| The Tofana Daughter | Laura Buckley |
| Unmeant | S R Simmons |
| Dig Two Graves … | Karin Maatman |
| The Debatable Lands | Anne Farquharson |
| The Edit | Ian Jones |
| Valour | Jenny Evans |
Full Longlists (with names)
Picture Books
| No Stories for Jessie | Lorraine Mariner |
| Party with Okapi | Charlotte Turner |
| Lila and the Lost Singing Dragon | Taslim Nasser |
| A PLACE TO BLOOM | Lucy Falkner |
| ANJAR, THE MAESTRO OF ART! | Natasha Laroya |
| June and the Hummingbird | Paula David |
| The Runaway Bottom | Robbie Donaldson |
| An Alien’s Guide to Making Friends. | Holly Challis |
| Daddy Dino | Matt Davies |
| The Jiggy Piggy | Sue Newton |
| INCREDIBULL! | Emma Hulin |
| Leon’s Big Roar | Laura Howard |
Children’s
| Elpida Lendahand and the Boone Family Rescue | Anna Mitchener |
| Quinn Takes Flight: A Gargoyles of York Adventure | Nikki Spalding |
| The Odd Squad | Ellie Salkeld |
| The Wishing Creek | Katie Joy Blake |
| Trapped In A Dangerous Pea | Adam Fuller |
| Alba Apricot Can Speak Guinea Pig | Nicola Tams |
| The Girl in the Corner | Emma Greville |
| The Hotel Caledonia | Faye Holt |
| Oops I Saved the Universe | Jack Simpson |
| Operation ANNA | Kirsti Sinclair |
| The Light Beyond the Mountains | Alka Handa |
| The Lost Hour | Claire Mowat |
| The Mermaid Skeleton | Claire Thomas |
| A GAME OF HEARTS AND HEISTS | Lorraine Birnita |
| SEVEN DISHES TO FALL IN LOVE | Kate den Rooijen |
Adult
| The Ocean Before Us | Louis Glazzard |
| Once a Lily of the Valley | Palin Chawinwit |
| The Ballad of Agnes Day | Natalie Orr |
| A State Of Life And Death | Samantha Elias |
| Freeze Frame | Dawn-Michelle Baude |
| GIN LANE | Kayleigh Rattle |
| Remember This For Me | Christine Michael |
| The Breath of Silence | Melanie Reynard |
| The Other Portrait | Wendy Coleman |
| The Sun Inside The Storm | Siobhan |
| White Oak | Jenny Evans |
| PATCHWORK SISTERS | Christy Kirkpatrick |