The judges for the 2026 Branford Boase Award, which recognises the author and, uniquely, the editor of the year’s outstanding debut novel for children, are announced today. They include the winning author of the 2025 Branford Boase Award Margaret McDonald. She will be joined by children’s book experts, Katherine Woodfine, author and reviewer for The Week Junior; Stephen Dilley, Head of English at Kendrick School, Reading and part of the UKLA Book Awards team; and Anjali Patel Lead Advisory Teacher, CLPE. The judging panel will be chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children's book consultant, the Hay Festival.

Margaret McDonald won the 2025 Branford Boase Award with Glasgow Boys, her striking debut exploring the power of identity, community and the Scottish working class. Described by LoveReading4Kids editoral expert, Amy McKay as "An astonishing debut that shows love can be so much more than blood, and even from darkest places hope can and does exist."

What is The Branford Boase Award? 

The Branford Boase Award was created in 2000 by Julia Eccleshare and Anne Marley in memory of award-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase and rewards the most promising new authors for young people and their editors. Now in its third decade, it remains the sole award to highlight the work of editors in supporting new authors and ensuring their work is the best it can be. With its emphasis on the craft of writing and the crucial role played by editors, the award showcases outstanding writing for children. Being shortlisted for the award is a sought-after accolade and winning authors and editors are recognised as setting standards in publishing excellence.

Previous winning authors include Meg Rosoff, Liz Hyder, M.G. Leonard, Maisie Chan and Nathanael Lessore; winning editors include Barry Cunningham, David Fickling and Fiona Kennedy. 

Opening the 2025 Branford Boase Award, chair of judges Julia Eccleshare MBE says, “The Branford Boase Award is a singular barometer of developments in children’s books. It is always exciting to open the Award and particularly so now. Recent shortlists have highlighted significant shifts of direction in writing for children. We look forward to finding fresh voices in the submissions, stories we haven’t read before, and which connect directly with today’s young readers.”

2026 Branford Boase Award Now Open

Publishers are invited to make their submissions for the 2026 Branford Boase Award now. The closing date is midnight Friday 28th November 2025.

The longlist will be announced on Wednesday 21st January 2026 and the shortlist will be revealed on Thursday 23rd April and the winner on Wednesday 8th July.

The submission form and full criteria can be found at https://branfordboaseaward.org.uk/ 

The Branford Boase Award is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Walker Books.