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Drumroll please … It’s time to announce our incredible lineup of judges for the 2025 Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2025!

While you’re busy polishing and perfecting those manuscripts, we’re prepping our judges and making sure they’re ready to pick our 2025 winners. Submissions are open until 2nd June 2025, so if you want to be in with a chance of having these all-star industry professionals read your story, make sure you head to our submissions page.

But – before you tap away – read on to find out more about our illustrious 2025 judges.

BARRY CUNNINGHAM, PUBLISHER AND MD, CHICKEN HOUSE

Barry Cunningham has had an impressive career in publishing. After an English degree at Cambridge, he joined Penguin Books in 1977. As Children’s Marketing Director for Puffin, he worked with all the great names in children’s books including Roald Dahl and Spike Milligan, and was responsible for the re-launch of Beatrix Potter. In 1984 he was promoted to the Penguin Board and became responsible for the marketing of all Penguin Books, a position he held until 1988, when he was headhunted by Random House. In 1994 he was approached by Bloomsbury to set up their first children’s book list. Barry left Bloomsbury at the height of its success and, in early 2000, decided to start his own publishing company. The result was Chicken House, a lively and creative company publishing highly original and enjoyable children’s books, with a special emphasis on new fiction. He has been a judge for the competition since it's fruition.

LUCY BANNERMAN, THE TIMES REPORTER AND CHILDREN’S BOOK CRITIC

Lucy Bannerman is an award-winning journalist at The Times, who has been chasing stories for the past 20 years. She has reported from 24 countries around the world, covering everything from the funeral of Nelson Mandela to the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan.

She is a regular contributor to The Times magazine, Times Radio and the Stories of Our Times podcast. As the newspaper's children's book critic, the best part of her working week is sifting through the hundreds of stories and picture books - from the fantastical and magical to the comical and historical - that arrive in the mail room every week to find the one that will become 'The Times children's book of the week.' It is the only weekly review space dedicated to children's literature in the mainstream press.

She was Young Journalist of the Year 2006 but is older now.

TIM COMPTON, CO-HEAD OF CHILDRENS, LIME PICTURES

Tim Compton is joint Head of Kids & Family (alongside Angelo Abela) at Lime Pictures. Prior to this, he was a script editor and producer at HIT Entertainment and CBBC. For Lime, Tim was the story producer and core writer on the global hit House of Anubis (Nickelodeon) and producer and co-creator of Evermoor, which was the Disney Channel's first direct drama commission from outside the US. Tim produced and wrote for Free Reign, the Emmy award-winning Netflix original and was executive producer on the Emmy-nominated limited series Zero Chill, also for Netflix. He is currently executive producer on Wereworld, Lime’s first animated series for Netflix.

KAI SPELLMEIER, LITERARY SCOUT, MARIA B. CAMPBELL ASSOCIATES 

Kai Spellmeier is a German author and a Children’s & YA scout in London. He loves unapologetically queer literature and has been blogging about books on social media for years.

GYAMFIA OSEI, LITERARY AGENT, ANDREW NURNBERG ASSOCIATES

Gyamfia Osei is a Literary Agent at Andrew Nurnberg Associates, representing a dynamic list of children’s book authors writing from middle-grade up to New Adult. Gyamfia particularly loves accessible, kid-centric stories and joy-driven books that celebrate children from underrepresented backgrounds.

Among other accolades, her authors have been selected for the BookBuzz and Empathy Lab lists, as well as shortlisted for The British Book Awards, The Sports Book Award and UKLA Book Awards. Gyamfia was chosen as a Bookseller Rising Star in 2024.

SARAH WALLIS-NEWMAN, AREA SALES MANAGER, BOUNCE SALES & MARKETING 

After beginning her career in books as a bookseller at Blackwell’s on Charing Cross Road, Sarah joined the small team at Chicken House selling rights and leading export sales. She is proud to have worked with authors such as Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Maz Evans and Lucy Strange and helped to sell them around the world. Now, working for Bounce as an Area Sales Manager, she represents over 40 children’s publishers, working with Independent Booksellers across the Midlands and the South West.

CHRIS SMITH, CHILDREN’S NOVELIST 

Chris Smith is a bestselling author and the joint recipient of the 2024 Ruth Rendell award for his work promoting literacy and campaigning for school libraries. Chris created the Kid Normal series with his friend Greg James and recently the pair published The Twits Next Door which became an instant bestseller. Chris is also a solo author and has published two fantasy adventures set in his fictional kingdom of Parallelia including Frankie Best Hates Quests. In January 2025 he’ll be bringing back Enid Blyton’s classic characters in The New Famous Five: Five and the Forgotten Treasure. Before he was an author Chris worked as a newsreader and presenter on radio stations including Xfm and BBC Radio 1. His most famous news bulletin is probably the one sampled by George Michael in 1998 and used on his international hit Outside. Chris lives in London with his wife Jenny, their son Lucas and Mabel the cat.

LUCY JANE WOOD, CONTENT CREATOR & SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Lucy Jane Wood, author of the instant Sunday Times Best Seller Rewitched, is an online content creator, avid reader and cosiness-seeker from the Wirral. These days, you’ll find her living in London, giant coffee in hand, and being headbutted at any given time by her cat.

LUCY JAKES, CHILDREN’S BUYER, WATERSTONES

Lucy Jakes is a Children’s Buyer at Waterstones. After working for three years as a Children’s and YA bookseller (all the while spreading the love for Chicken House titles), she joined Waterstones Head Office in 2022, where she is now the buyer for Picture Books, Baby & Toddler, Fairytale & Gift, Reference, and Activities & Hobbies, and helps run and judge for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She has previously been a judge for the Times Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition and Books Are My Bag Readers’ Awards. When not working, she can be found painting, writing, and reading every Children’s book she can get her hands on.

Quite the list, we think you’ll agree! Ready to submit your work for judging? Head to our submissions page for all the information you’ll need. Good luck!