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READY ... SET ... GO!

The summer holidays are over, but don’t worry, we have some fantastic news to brighten your day: the new Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition is now OPEN! What’s more, it’s the competition’s tenth birthday – yippee!

We’re still on a high from announcing this year’s winner, Trudi Tweedie, with The Lion and the Unicorn. And now we’re celebrating reaching double digits in four EXTREMELY exciting ways:

1. 1. We’ve just bought rights to the fantastic Jelly by Clare Rees, which was shortlisted for the 2018 competition!

We’ve bought UK/German rights to the fabulous Jelly from Claire Wilson at RCW and we can’t wait to share this incredible, one-of-a-kind story with you all. Jelly is a highly original, hilarious and completely gripping account of a post-apocalyptic world in which a group of teenagers are trapped on a giant jellyfish - you’re going to love it!

2. 2. We’re offering not one but TWO prizes this year!

Yup, that's right. Obvs we'll be offering our usual first prize of a publishing contract with a £10k advance, but there will be another publishing contract up for grabs: the 'Chairman's Choice', a book hand-picked by our very own Barry Cunningham, the author of which will get a £7.5k advance. It’s going to be awarded to a book that shows huge potential but perhaps needs a little more work than the winner.

3. 3. We're closing the competition later than ever, on 28 February 2019.

This will give you more time to polish, edit or even WRITE your fabulous children’s book before the deadline! Go on, we dare you.

4. 4. We’re coming to YOU!

We’re planning a host of promotional and outreach events across the UK – because we want the competitions to be more accessible than ever, and for EVERYONE to feel motivated to enter. In fact, we’re positively bursting to find the most diverse bunch of writers ever this year. Keep an eye on our social media for details. (And psst ... discounted entry might be a possibility for those who attend ... watch this space!)

And here’s a fun fact to motivate you even more: out of the writers who have been shortlisted or won the competition since 2008, a whopping 58% have now been published either by Chicken House or other traditional UK publishers. We’re so proud of them all!

The competition is open to writers from all over the world, as long as you write in English, are unagented and have not had a children’s book published before. For more details on the competition and instructions on how to enter, check out our submissions page.

Good luck – we can’t wait to see what stories you’ve got for us this year!