The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2025 longlist is here! 

Thank you to everyone who entered the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction competition - the UK's biggest competition for unpublished children's writers. As always, the standard of entries was incredibly high and our readers are continually blown away by the imagination and talent of authors – this year we have fifteen fantastic titles on the longlist.

YA led the charge this year, with 11 YA stories and 4 middle-grade stories making the longlist. As always, there is a wonderful range of stories. From fantastical jinn familiars and chronobears to tennis courts and new schools, our longlistees' scope of imagination is unparalleled!

Here is the 2025 longlist:

• A Mystery at Whisper Lake by Julia Blackburn
• Azel and the Jinni Familiar by Zareena Nazimudeen
• Dancing on Fire by Villy Tichkova
• The Fane and The Fruit Wagon by Olive M. Morris
• The Less-Than-Perfect Life of Jaya Kapoor by Shefali Kharabanda
• Love-Love by Sally Hewitt
• Nothing Good Happens at Midnight by Hannah Nathan
• The Potentials by Adrian Woodland
• PSI by Harriet Worrell
• Secret Wolf by Beth Holland
• The Seven Wonders of Westerley Point by E. K. Luke
• Skelly Boy by George Wigzell
• The Turquoise Thief by Essie Brammer
• The Warlock at Ridge Valley by Mike Hibbert
• The Wrangler’s Daughter by Marianna Shek

Massive congratulations to our talented longlisted authors. We can’t wait to find out which of these stories will reach our shortlist – and which will win our two prizes of publication! We hope to announce the shortlist here on our website and across our social media channels early September, so watch this space for more news . . .