As we complete the eighth year of our awards, I’m delighted to see both the number and the exceptional quality of entries continuing to grow year after year, with over 1300 in total.
This was particularly evident in the comments from the Darley Anderson agents on this year’s shortlist, which highlighted the remarkable standard of writing we had the privilege of reading.
At the heart of these awards is a simple aim: to give talented writers another opportunity to have their work discovered and considered by leading literary agents, while also providing valuable feedback and, hopefully, an additional sense of encouragement and possibility. Breaking into publishing is notoriously difficult, and we want to give writers a little more hope, a little more exposure, and another opportunity to take that all-important next step towards publication.
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of our winners and shortlisted writers, whose achievements are thoroughly deserved. I also want to thank every writer who entered this year. It takes enormous courage to put your work forward, and reaching this stage is an achievement in itself.
To all of our winners, shortlisted writers and entrants, I wish you every success with your writing and, most importantly, with your future careers.
I hope this awards experience is one step on what becomes a long, exciting and rewarding journey as a writer.
Picture Books
Judged by Lorna Hemingway
Overall feedback:
Wow! What a great shortlist. Every story fully considers the child reader – whether that is engaging them with fast-paced non-fiction, imploring them to interact vocally with the text, making them laugh their socks off, or offering an optimistic heartwarming take on an important topic. It was a real pleasure to read every single text.
Winner:
The Alpaca Attackers by Helen Hooper
Runner-up:
The House That Jack Ate by Tracy Jones
Full Shortlist:
A Different Bear by Elaine Cline
Adrian the Alien by Claire Lewis
MC Spike and the Party Crew by Helen Hooper
My Sister is a Dung Beetle by Becky Stretton
Children’s
Lucy Irvine – Children’s
Overall feedback:
Very impressed by the range of stories featured on this shortlist– from an ambitious YA dystopia to a wonderfully wacky chapter-book to a literary middle-grade in verse. It was very hard to select a winner as every entry offered something different, and all the shortlisted authors should be very proud of what they’ve achieved.
Winner:
The Night Bus Riders by Ellie Pulze
Runner-up:
The Wasteland by Carrie Stewart
Full Shortlist:
All The Words For Stupid by Amelia Etherton
Anomaly Island by Lois Foster
Deeny Dinos: T-Wrecks by Helen Addyman
Sheep Swap by Natalie Rutherford
The Misadventures of Frankie Stein: The Case of the Missing Snookies by Amy Molden
Adult
Clare Wallace – Adult
Overall feedback:
There was an extremely high standard here, across a range of genres and themes. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors!
Winner:
Dead Reckoning by Holly Pickering
Runner-up:
The Skylark and the Blowfly by Aisling Goodwin
Shortlisted:
Ghost Trails by Amy O’Neil
Lowlives by Katherine Carr
Stand by for Redeployment by Ashley Mangtani
The Trick to Not Dying by Susannah Ronald
We also had a prize for one SL and one LL writer, which was drawn and the following writers won those:
Full Manuscript Developmental Edit: Amelia Etherton
6 months of Mentoring: Jade De-Terville