The New Children’s Author Prize 2015

I spent many a happy hour when I was younger writing stories, making books and generally dreaming about how being an author would be one of the best jobs in the world.  (I also dreamed of being an airline pilot, but quickly realised that that would probably involve less reading of books, less buying of pretty stationery and potentially fewer opportunities to eat cake, so I quickly moved on.)

Despite the fact that I haven’t (yet… there’s still time) managed to write a book, I was excited to receive an email recently about the New Children’s Author Prize from the National Literacy Trust.  The National Literacy Trust is an amazing charitable organisation, involved in a wide range of projects to improve literacy levels for everyone in the UK, especially those living in disadvantaged communities.  Their website is a wealth of information and has many resources for both schools and families.  This competition shows how keen they are to keep the magic of reading alive, by helping to find one of the next generation of authors who’ll have children sneaking a torch under their covers to continue a story after bedtime 😉

It’s a fantastic opportunity for an upcoming author, so without further ado, here are the details you’ll need if you’re interested…

“A new writing competition to find the “next big thing” in children’s literature has being launched by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with Bloomsbury. The New Children’s Author Prize is set to unearth brilliant new talent in writing for children.

Unpublished authors who enter the competition will be in with the chance of winning a publishing contract with Bloomsbury, publisher behind the Harry Potter series. The first prize will also include an advance of £5,000 and an exclusive print run of the new author’s work.

To enter, authors should submit a 20,000–40,000 word children’s story, targeted at children aged 8 to 12, with a 350 word synopsis and a 1,000 word passage highlighted for judging in the early rounds. . Pay for your entry by 30 September and submit your entry by 31 October. Entries cost £30. All proceeds from the competition go towards the National Literacy Trust’s work in tackling low literacy levels in deprived communities across the UK. Visit www.literacytrust.org.uk/authorprize for more details and how to enter.”

Sounds pretty fab, right?!  Personally, I’m hoping it becomes a regular thing so that I can keep my childhood dream alive by telling myself I’ll enter in the future 🙂  Please share this post with anyone you think might be interested and the best of luck to everyone who enters!

TTFN

P.S. You can also find the National Literacy Trust on Twitter and on Facebook.