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Children's Fiction

The Emma Press open submissions 2025

Information

Closing date: 
18 February 2025
Entry: 
Non-agented submissions in English from anywhere in the world. 'Submission ticket' £0 to £25
Prize: 
Publication by The Emma Press and small advances

The Emma Press is an independent publisher specialising in poetry, short fiction and children's books. It was founded in 2012 and is based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We publish poetry, short-form prose, and books for children.

The Emma Press's open submission will close on 18 February.  Read more

Action! Prize

Information

Closing date: 
30 January 2025
Entry: 
Unagented writers resident in the UK, Ireland and US. No entry fee
Prize: 
Publishing contract for 3 authors, First Prize £12,000 advance, Second Prize £9,000 advance and Third Prize £6,000 advance.

Faber is launching the Action! Prize, in response to research from the National Literacy TrustUK-based organisation which has campaigned since 1993 to improve literacy standards across all age groups. Excellent research information and details of the many initiatives the charity is currently involved in. www.literacytrust.org.uk. It also has a useful page of news stories on UK literacy, which links to newsletter http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx that reveals children's reading enjoyment is at its lowest level in almost two decades, and that the problem is most acute for boys.  Read more

Mslexia Women's Fiction Competitions 2024

Information

Closing date: 
23 September 2024
Entry: 
All women are eligible. Entry fee for Short Story £12, Flash Fiction £6 and Novel (Young Adult and Children) £26
Prize: 
Various

Over the years MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk has developed a portfolio of highly respected competitions that have propelled many women’s writing careers to the next level. Winners, and finalists have discovered that being placed in a Mslexia competition can make a huge difference to how their work is perceived.  Read more

The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2024

Information

Closing date: 
1 June 2024
Entry: 
Open to unpublished, unagented children’s writers based anywhere in the world. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
First Prize: a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus the offer of representation from literary agent Lydia Silver of Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency.

The Times/Chicken House Prize  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2024

Information

Closing date: 
7 January 2024
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s fiction or adult non-fiction in the UK between January and December 2023. Entry fee: £35 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

Now in their sixth year, the hugely popular Selfies book awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch and sponsored by Ingram Spark® and LitPR- will again reward three self-published authors for their publishing excellence.
  Read more

The Emma Press open submissions

Information

Closing date: 
8 August 2023
Entry: 
Non-agented submissions in English from anywhere in the world. No entry fee
Prize: 
Publication by The Emma Press and small advances

The Emma Press is an independent publisher specialising in poetry, short fiction and children's books. It was founded in 2012 and is based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We publish poetry, short-form prose, and books for children.

The Emma Press's open submission will run from 1 August to 8 August.  Read more

2023 Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 June 2023
Entry: 
Open to unpublished, unagented children’s writers based anywhere in the world. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
First Prize: a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus the offer of representation from literary agent Davinia Andrew-Lynch of Andlyn

Chicken House 'is thrilled to announce' the opening of its 2022 writing competition, in conjunction with The Times, and with a new prize sponsored by TV production company Lime Pictures. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2023.  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2023

Information

Closing date: 
3 January 2023
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s books or adult memoirs/autobiography in the UK between January and December 2022. Entry fee: £35 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

For the fifth year running the hugely popular Selfies Book Awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch and sponsored by Ingram Spark® - will again reward three self-published authors for their publishing excellence. Submissions are now open for indie authors who have published an adult autobiography/memoir, adult fiction or children's book during 2022.
  Read more

2022 Times/Chicken House writing competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 June 2022
Entry: 
fee Open to unpublished, unagented children’s writers based anywhere in the world. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
First Prize a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus the offer of representation from literary agent Louise Lamont at LBA Books, Second Prize a £7,500 publishing contract plus an offer of representation

Now the biggest children's writing competition in the UK, the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition has been running for 12 years and has kickstarted the careers of many of the most established writers for both children and adults in the UK - including Jasbinder Bilan (Costa-winning author of Asha & the Spirit Bird), SJ Bennett (The Windsor Knot) and Nicki Thornton (The Last Ch  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards UK 2022

Information

Closing date: 
3 January 2022
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s books or adult memoirs/autobiography in the UK between January and December 2021. Entry fee: £30 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

Now in its fourth year, the 'hugely popular' Selfies book awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch - have opened and will again reward three categories of self-published books: adult autobiography/memoir, adult fiction and children's books.  Read more

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The Moth Short Story Prize 2025

Information

Closing date: 
30 June 2025
Entry: 
Open to all writers over 16. Entry fee €15 per story
Prize: 
1st prize €3,000, 2nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus travel stipend, 3rd prize €1,000

The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. The winners are chosen by a single judge each year, who reads the stories anonymously.

This year's judge is Evie Wyld.  Read more

'Storytelling is a form of resilience'

28 April 2025

‘Storytelling is a form of resilience. Think of Scheherazade - for 1001 nights, with every story, she survives, lives a little but longer in the face of authoritarianism or tyranny. Stories give us hope and connect us. Sometimes this tradition is looked down upon or belittled, but I think our superstitions are the projections of our deepest fears...  Read more

'Books are comforting, maybe especially when you're growing up, because reading a story that has a main character you can identify with, and - crucially - an ending you already know, is cathartic.'

— Gal Beckerman

7 April 2025 - What's new

April 2025
  • Poets ‘are the great people in literature because they manage to gather thought and feeling, and intellectual and emotional intensity into words in a way that I haven't done in my writing...
  Read more