Eligibility

• The Bath Children’s Novel Award 2026 is a writing competition for novels, chapter books and picture book texts by emerging authors. 
• For the purposes of the competition, emerging authors are defined as: “unagented writers who are yet to accept an offer of publication, for a novel or children’s fiction book, which includes an advance (pre-publication) payment from the publisher.”
• Entrants may be of any age, nationality or residency.
• We accept: YA novels; novels for teens; children’s novels; early readers; chapter books and the text of story picture books.
• Full manuscripts may be of any length.
• Submissions may be unpublished, self published or published without an advance.
• Submissions must be the author’s original work.
• Submissions must not be originated, written or edited by artificial intelligence.
• Entrants retain full copyright, however by entering, all shortlisted entrants give permission for us to post the opening pages of their entry on our site.
• Employees of the Bath Novel Awards, Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, Professional Writing Academy and the judge’s literary agency are not eligible to win.

Prizes

• The winner of the Bath Children’s Novel Award 2026 and all listee names will be announced at www.bathnovelaward.co.uk in March 2027.
• The winner will be awarded £5,000 GBP. In the event of a joint win, the prize money will be shared equally between winners.
• By entering, the winner agrees to an interview which may be published on our site and in any media for publicity purposes.
• Longlisted entrants will be emailed in mid December 2026 and invited to submit their full manuscripts for the shortlist judging stages.
• Shortlisted authors will be notified by email in February 2027.
• Shortlistees win a compilation of feedback on their full manuscripts from the Junior Judges.
• All listees win feedback on their initial submission of up to 5,000 words and one page synopsis. This feedback will be provided after the winning novel or book has been announced.
• The writer of the most promising longlisted novel or book, as judged by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and announced in March 2027, will receive a free place on the 18 week online course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way. The course is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative to this prize.
• The judge’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into concerning this decision. The Bath Novel Awards reserve the right to change the judge without notice.

Initial submissions

• Submissions will open on 26th February 2026 and close at 23:59 GMT, 30th November 2026.
• Your submission should be a single Word document or PDF. 
• Novel submissions should be the opening of your book up to a maximum of 5,000 words, double-spaced in a size 12 font, followed by a one-page synopsis in a single-spaced size 12 font. 
• For picture book text submissions, one entry can include the text of up to three books, which should be double-spaced in a size 12 font,  followed by one page of short summaries presented single-spaced in a size 12 font.  
• We recommend presenting your manuscript in industry standard format. If you are unsure what industry standard formatting is, please see: how to format a novel manuscript and/or how to format a picture book text.
• As our prizes are judged blind, your name and contact details should not appear in your extract/synopsis document.
• Entries should not include any photographs, maps, artwork or cover images.
• Novels or books should be submitted in English.
• The entrance fee is £33 (including VAT) per novel or chapter book, or a submission of up to three picture book texts. You may enter as many times as you wish.
• Entries should be submitted using our online entry form.
• Sponsored places are available for writers on a low income via our sponsored entry scheme application form.
• Submissions may not be altered after entry and entries which do not comply with the competition terms may be disqualified.