The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2024 is OPEN!

The prize you already know and love – a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a £10,000 advance (subject to contract) for a complete fiction manuscript of any genre for children aged 7 up to YA.

The winning entry will be the novel that, in the opinion of the judges, demonstrates the greatest entertainment value, quality, originality and suitability for children. The winner will also be offered representation by Lydia Silver of Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency.

The competition is open RIGHT NOW and the deadline is 1st June 2024 at 11.59pm GMT. So absolutely NO EXCUSES – grab that manuscript, or a completely fresh slate, and get writing – we can’t wait to read all of the brilliant stories that are just waiting to be read.

The second prize, the Lime Pictures New Storyteller Award, is a publishing contract with a royalty advance of £7,500 plus an offer of representation by Lydia Silver. The prize will be awarded to a manuscript that shows great potential for film and TV development.

To enter, you must have written a completed full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged somewhere between 7 and 18 years. ‘Full-length’ is a minimum of 30,000 words and a maximum of 80,000 words.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.