The Hachette Children’s Novel Award is open to debut writers of middle-grade children’s fiction and early teen fiction.

We accept all kinds of children’s and early teen fiction, including but not limited to historical fiction, crime, science fiction, romance and fantasy. Please do not submit collections of short stories or individual short stories.

In terms of target age group, we are looking for fiction for children aged 7–11 (at the younger end of this bracket the word count can be 15–30K; at the older end, approx. 40K), or teen fiction for readers aged 11-13 (50–65K words), this should still exclude high-end or explicit content including swearing, sex and drugs.

There will be two winners of this award. The winning writers will be offered a financial prize of £3000 each; and a programme of mentoring opportunities with professionals at Hachette Children’s Group, including a minimum of 4 professional development sessions in a nine-month period, across editorial and design, sales, marketing and rights.

Any reasonable travel expenses will be covered by the publisher. Additionally, the winners will receive access to New Writing North’s programmes of support.

To apply for this award you should be:

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• A debut author of middle-grade and early teen fiction.

Please submit your initial 3000-6000 words and synopsis by the award deadline. Authors longlisted for the award will be contacted by 19 February 2026 and asked to deliver a complete draft of their manuscript by 28 February 2026.

Judges will be announced in November 2025.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.
For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at awards@newwritingnorth.com.

The Jerwood Fellowships at New Writing North will be awarded to three early career published writers, currently living in the North of England. Each writer will receive a bursary of £10,000 and a bespoke package of support, including mentoring, over the course of a year, beginning in 2026. 

The fellowship will be open to writers of fiction, poetry or narrative non-fiction who have had work professionally published. With a focus on artistic excellence, this opportunity aims to support writers at a pivotal point in their careers, as they develop new work towards publication. The three writers will be invited to participate in at least one event scheduled towards the completion of the programme in late 2026. 

These Fellowships are generously supported by the Jerwood Foundation and managed by New Writing North.