We are delighted to announce the Bath Children’s Novel Award 2023 shortlist.
Established in 2013, the Bath Novel Awards are annual international prizes for emerging authors. The Bath Children’s Novel Award is for picture book texts, chapter books, children’s novels and YA novels.
The author of the winning manuscript, as judged by literary agent Jessica Hare, will receive £3,000 plus our exclusive trophy inspired by Bath Roman Bath’s iconic Minerva statue.
All listees win comments on their opening pages and synopsis from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy’s Head of Scouting and Editorial Director Monica Chakraverty. Shortlistees also win feedback from our international team of Junior Judges aged seven to seventeen who chose the shortlist.
Submissions were invited from June through November 2023 and we were thrilled to receive a record number of extracts and synopses from authors in 42 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania. A longlist was announced in December 2023 with full manuscripts then considered for the shortlist.
As the prize is judged ‘blind’, listees’ names will be kept under wraps until the winner is announced on 29th February 2024. In the meantime, huge congratulations to the authors of the Junior Judges’ top five manuscripts:
NIFLHEIM; A TØRSON ADVENTURE – When Ebenezer Munch’s mother dies, he is stranded with a grandfather he’s never met on a mysterious alt-Scandinavian island where a monstrous killer stalks the night.
OUTFOXED – With the help of new animal friends, George Fox goes on a magical mission to right wrongs in this cosy read for younger readers.
SCARLETT BUCKLING AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PICTURES – When her gran is found upset in town searching for mysterious missing pictures, twelve-year-old Scarlett and classmate Bournemouth must track them down.
THE BLUE CANOE – When a fishing trip with his dad goes badly wrong, fourteen-year-old Ben wakes up in an unfamiliar kitchen with no memory of what happened and must take desperate measures to save both their lives.
THE TRAIN WITH NO END – Henry is a baby when he boards the train. As he grows he begins to ask questions. Why does the train have no beginning or end? And what happens to the people who get off when it stops?