Wow, what a competition it’s been! Beginning with hundreds of wonderful picture book entries, we whittled them down (with enormous difficulty) to a longlist of twenty and then passed the baton to our fantastic judge Kayleigh Keam to decide the top 10 stories, including an overall winner. On the list were stories that made us smile, laugh, think – what a joy to judge!
Here are the long-awaited results.
Winner
Otter Spotter by Jessica Nelson
Shortlisted Entries
And Then by Cathy McDonnell
EURGH! YUCK! That Isn’t Poo! by Tom Lancaster
I’ll Remember For You by Nadine Holland
Mina the Mighty by Nadine Holland
Orla the Orca and the Keepsake Clams by Louisa McLennan
Scarytale by Lindsay Hirst
The Big Bad Blob by Matt Cuyes
The Dream-Travellers by Claire Lewis
Ug the Inventor by Peter Frederick
Many congratulations to our final 10. We adore these stories and look forward to including them in Searchlight’s agent/publisher pitch book. Congratulations to all our longlistees. Our judge said, ‘It is always such an honour to judge competitions such as this, a task that I take very seriously, knowing only too well how much love and dedication each author pours into their work. I would urge each author not to feel too much disappointment at not being selected for the shortlist/winning book and to celebrate the HUGE achievement that is making the longlist/shortlist.’
Thank you to everyone for being brave and allowing us to read your work. It has been an absolute privilege. Keep going. Keep writing.