Bath Children’s Novel Award 2025

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 The prize is open to unagented writers, who are unpublished, self-published or independently published without advance.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: 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).

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.

Is this competition legit?YES! – Based on our research this event is legitimate and the organizer is well established. However, as with any event, please remember to do your own research before submitting your work.