WriteMentor Novel & Picture Book Award agent judges share advice
We’re lucky enough to have three brilliant and experienced agents from Darley Anderson judging our 2026 WriteMentor Novel & Picture Book Awards:
- Picture book category: Lorna Hemingway
- Children’s fiction category: Lucy Irvine
- Adult fiction category: Clare Wallace
Alongside a £500 cash prize, our three winners will get the chance to have a 45-minute one-to-one consultation with the agent judge for their category.
Here, we chatted to Lorna, Lucy, and Clare about entering awards, from mistakes they see in submissions to their advice for crafting a winning entry.
Can you tell us about you, your career path towards becoming a literary agent, and your role at the agency?
Lorna: I was extremely lucky as I began my career in publishing one week after I finished my undergraduate degree! In the Summer of 2019, I started my internship at Bell Lomax Moreton and by the autumn I continued parttime while completing my MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths. Once I completed my MA in September 2020, I was brought on fulltime as an assistant where I quickly began building my list of authors and illustrators, many of whom have gone on to win or be shortlisted for prestigious awards, including the Klaus Flugge Prize, Inclusive Books for Children Award (IBC), Indie Book Awards, BookTrust Storytime Prize, and the World Illustration Awards, as well as being featured in The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and Waterstones Best Books of 2023 and 2025. In 2023 I was promoted to agent and in 2025 I joined the amazing team at DACBA. Like Lucy, I was lucky enough that the majority of my clients joined me on this exciting adventure.
Lucy: I started my publishing journey in September 2017 as an intern at digital publisher Agora Books, and moved over to agency life in July 2018 as the assistant to Caroline Michel at PFD. I started working in the children’s market at the end of 2019 and knew immediately that this where I wanted to stay. In November 2025 I moved over to DACBA after 8 years at PFD, during which I built a list of best-selling authors who have been shortlisted for/won a variety of awards including the Carnegie Medal for Writing & Illustration, the Branford Boase Awards, the British Book Awards, the Week Junior Book Awards, and Waterstones Book of the Month. I feel very lucky that the majority of my lovely authors made the move with me! My role at the agency is to continue to grow my list in the MG, YA, and crossover space, as well as working closely with my brilliant colleagues Kristina and Becca, who handle the US market and international rights. I’m absolutely loving it!
Clare: It took me a while to find my publishing path – I worked a lot of jobs and enjoyed my twenties before realising I didn’t have a career yet. Publishing always felt daunting and out of reach. When I was nearly thirty, and had a bit more confidence, I started interning (my first internship was secured by asking agents for work experience at the launch of an MA anthology I was a part of), for about six months at various literary agencies and a couple of publishers. I applied for approximately a gazillion publishing jobs (unsuccessfully), and then finally secured an interview for a rights assistant role at Darley Anderson. A brilliant (and kind) non-fiction agency I had been interning for recommended me for the role. During the interview I was asked if I thought I might be able to cope with a rights manager role, as the rights manager had just handed in their notice. I said yes (with a gulp and some fast blinking). After that, I worked hard to absorb and learn as much as I could and survive my probationary period – which I did. After working in translation rights for a while I had the opportunity to start reading submissions, and it’s from there that I started to primary agent, eventually moving across to that permanently. The clients I represent have featured on the New York Times bestseller list, been USA Today bestsellers, eBook bestsellers and selected for the Good Morning America Book Club, with many titles adapted for or in development for the screen and, in 2024, I was shortlisted for Agent of the Year by the British Book Awards.
Why can it be useful for aspiring authors to enter writing awards?
Clare: It can be a way to get started, to start to see how your work is received, to start putting your work and your talent out there. It takes courage, just like going on submission does, and it’s another way to give focus to your writing. It’s a good discipline too – to set yourself the goal of entering these awards and then fine-tuning your work with an award or prize in mind. These awards can get you noticed too, by agents and editors, some awards or prizes offer representation, a publishing contract, or an opportunity for feedback with editors or agents, and we do pay attention to these achievements in covering letters. And it’s also another way to start to find and forge your community or to start building one within the industry – following the awards online, interacting with and supporting other aspiring authors.
What are the key ingredients for a winning entry?
Lucy: There’s no one answer to this question, as so much of this job is down to personal taste! Generally though, make sure you follow the submission guidelines closely and that your synopsis functions correctly (i.e. it should contain an overview of all key plot points, rather than ending on a cliffhanger or question). As you only have a limited sample to stand out, this is a good moment to think about whether your novel opens at the right point in the story. Those opening pages need to give a good sense of voice and character, and for us to end the sample wanting to read on. If you don’t feel that yours currently does this, then it might be worth another look! The most important thing, though, is that you are writing the book that you want to write – agents all like to be surprised, and no-one can predict what the next book they fall for is going to be!
What mistakes do you most often see in submissions, and how can writers avoid them?
Lucy: Make sure that you have a good sense of which genre and age-market you are writing within. It’s very common to see submissions where the author has mis-pitched their book, positioning it as either younger or older than it should be, or within a different genre. What this says to us is that you aren’t aware of the current market, and perhaps aren’t reading around your genre/age-group. Be specific in your pitch – you want it to be impactful, and to give a clear sense of who the reader is.
Is there anything you feel is underrepresented in picture books, and you’d therefore like to read more of?
Lorna: This is a very interesting question and one that I am often asked. In regard to themes and genres, as agents, we are always cautious to encourage you to start writing to fill something that is missing in the market. The market is a continuously changing and we are always thinking years ahead, and so, if something is currently missing or underrepresented – nine times out of ten someone is already about to fill it. My best advice is to instead focus on subjects that fascinate you and interest you as no one can replicate that. However, one thing that sadly continues to be underrepresented is a diverse range of voices and stories from authors from historically underrepresented backgrounds. At DACBA, we would love to hear from these authors across all three of the categories.
Any advice for people entering our awards?
Lorna: Back in 2022, I did a lovely interview with WriteMentor and one of the questions I was asked then was ‘what is a submission turn on’ and my answer still stands true today. I am an absolute sucker for movie/TV comps – as they allow me to immediately picture your style and narrative. So when crafting your entry, alongside your manuscript, I would love to see great GRIPPING and IMMEDIATE comps; think along the lines of Jumanji with witches.
Lucy: My biggest piece of advice for querying writers is to make sure that you are also reading in your age-group/genre – not only is this helpful for comparison titles, but it will give you a much clearer picture of where your book will sit on the shelf, and what is already working/has been done before. A clear and impactful pitch from someone who knows the market makes such a big difference!
Clare: Just be brave. What do you have to lose by having a go? Everyone starts somewhere and getting your ‘yes’ or your ‘win’ is a mix of talent, persistence, timing and luck. And the practical advice would be to read, read, and read some more. Spend time in bookshops reading blurbs of the books you like to read and would like to be put next to on the shelves – and then think about how your own book would pitch and how you would pull out its USP – this will help you hone your pitch.