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There's been lots of lively discussion this week as our panel of judges gathered to discuss this year’s incredible Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition and IET 150 Award shortlists. The journey to choosing our winners was no easy task ...

After much debate over each and every one of the shortlisted titles, the Times/Chicken House Award winner is ...

Emily Randall with The Flood Child!

Emily Randall trained as an actor, and spent years touring in classic novel adaptations with a merry band of players and the set in a horse box. She's also been an Historical Interpreter (one of those in Georgian dress at Hampton Court) and worked for the National Trust, where she created trails and exhibitions for all ages. In fact, it was producing an interactive murder mystery that ignited a love for writing twisty tales for older children. She now writes alongside raising two tiny people, one of whom lent her middle name to the main character.

The Flood Child tells the story of Autumn, a thirteen-year-old who can see the dead. When her father drowns and he’s the one ghost that doesn’t appear, she must solve the mystery of his death before his past comes hurtling into her present.

Alongside this, the IET 150 Award was awarded to ...

Alison Stegert with The Remarkables!

At age 12, Alison Stegert read The Secret Garden, a book she credits with unleashing her desire to write, her urge to travel, and her fascination with the UK – all unusual interests for a country girl from small-town America. At 18, she began travelling and acquiring languages. In China, she fell in love with an Aussie whom she married (Best souvenir ever!). After raising three remarkable daughters and retiring from school counselling, Alison now focuses on her writing. She's the state director of the Queensland branch of SCBWI ANZ.

The Remarkables follows young Victorian inventor, Winnie, who is unexpectedly expelled from her progressive academy thanks to her father’s business disgrace and disappearance. Winnie is set adrift with nothing but big debts and bigger dreams of World Fair glory when a mysterious agency conscripts her into Her Majesty’s Secret League of Remarkable Young Ladies …

We are so thrilled to welcome these two fantastic writers to the Chicken House coop! Now the biggest children's writing competition in the UK, the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition has been running for 11 years and has kickstarted the careers of many of the most established children's writers in the UK, including Costa Award-winning author Jasbinder Bilan. Since the competition’s inception, 61% of shortlistees have gone on to be published (not just by us!).

Keep an eye out for the 2022 competition, which will reopen later this year; it costs £18 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. For more details on the competition and instructions on how to enter, please visit our submissions page.