The Bath Children’s Novel Award is a £5,000 international prize for children’s novels, YA, chapter books and picture book texts. The prize is open to unagented writers, who are unpublished, self-published or independently published without advance. We welcome writers of every age, gender, nationality and residency.
Recipients include: New York Times bestselling author Struan Murray for the manuscript of Orphans of the Tide (published by Puffin in 2020), Matthew Fox for the manuscript of The Sky Over Rebecca (Hachette, 2022) and Lucy Van Smit for The Hurting (Chicken House, 2018)
2025’s winning manuscript will be judged by Clare Wallace, Managing Director and Literary Agent at Darley Anderson Children’s, from a shortlist chosen by Junior Judges aged 7-17 years.
Submissions were invited from 1 March until 30 November 2025 with the winner announced in February 2026 and awarded £5,000 along with our beautiful Minerva trophy, inspired by the iconic sculpture in Bath’s Roman Baths.
Shortlisted writers win a compilation of Junior Judges’ comments on their full manuscripts. Longlisted writers win a compilation of award readers’ comments on their extract and synopsis.
One longlisted writer will also win a place worth £1,980 on the 18 week virtual course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and the Professional Writing Academy.
