The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2025
Top prize in children's writing competition is a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000
Chicken House is 'thrilled to announce' the opening of its 2025 writing competition, ran in conjunction with The Times, and with a prize sponsored by TV production company Lime Pictures. The deadline for submissions is 2 June 2025.
According to organisers: 'Now the biggest children's writing competition in the UK, the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition has been running for 14 years and has kickstarted the careers of many of the most established writers for both children and adults in the UK - including Jasbinder Bilan (Costa-winning author of Asha & the Spirit Bird), S.J. Bennett (The Windsor Knot) and Efua Traoré (Children of the Quicksands). Since the competition's inception, over half of shortlistees have gone on to be published, including winners.
'The competition is open to unpublished, unagented writers based anywhere in the world. We accept entries aimed at readers from age 7 all the way up to age 18 (Young Adult).
The top prize is a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000, plus a discussion of representation with literary agent Gyamfia Osei of Andrew Nurnberg Associates Sells rights internationally on behalf of UK/US agencies and publishers. Agent for UK and international authors, including children's writers. Fiction, non-fiction and children's fiction. Does not represent children's picture books, poetry or scripts for film, T.V, radio or theatre. Submission Guidelines: Founded 1977 Association of Authors' Agents
'This year also sees the return of the Lime Pictures New Storyteller Award, a bespoke prize sponsored by leading TV production company Lime Pictures, awarded to the submission which shows the greatest TV development potential and chosen by Chicken House Publisher Barry Cunningham and Lime Pictures' Tim Compton. The winner will receive a £7,500 publishing contract plus a discussion of representation.'
Barry Cunningham, Chicken House Publisher and MD, said: "It's inspiring to see submission numbers - and talent! - for the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition grow year on year. For me, the important thing is to offer writers a chance to be heard and read outside the mainstream - and the competition continues to offer exactly that."
The competition costs £20 to enter and is open to writers from all over the world, as long as they write in English, are unagented and have not had a children's book published before.
www.chickenhousebooks.com/submissions
