Margaret McDonald and her editors Alice Swan and Ama Badu are winners of the 2025 Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut novel for young people with Glasgow Boys, a moving, beautifully written coming-of-age novel exploring the power of identity, community and masculinity. This brings to three the number of awards Glasgow Boys has received (it also won the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the UKLA Award) but the Branford Boase Award is unique in honouring editor as well as author.

What is The Branford Boase Award?

The Branford Boase Award was set up in 2000 to commemorates prize-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase of Walker Books. As Branford Boase Award winners, McDonald, Swan and Badu join a list that has shaped children’s literature over the last quarter century. Winning and shortlisted authors include Frances Hardinge, Kevin Brooks, Meg Rosoff, Patrick Ness and Maisie Chan, and winning editors include David Fickling, Fiona Kennedy, Barry Cunningham and Bella Pearson.

Nathanael Lessore, winner of this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Award and the 2025 Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal, was awarded the 2024 Branford Boase Award for Steady For This.

Lessore was a judge this year and says, “The Branford Boase Award is special. Celebrating the relationship with editors and writers, and focusing on debuts, it's such an accomplishment to be shortlisted. It celebrates the collaborative aspects of literature, while directing a spotlight onto stories from authors we haven't heard from. I was one of those authors, and I'm eternally grateful for the shortlisting and the win. It was the first time I felt I could be proud to be a writer. And I got to share that with my editors.

The books on this year’s Branford Boase Award shortlist reflect the current battles that young people face societally and within themselves, but they also show the positive sides of humanity and community, leading to wonderful journeys of self-belief.

Glasgow Boys had me tearing up with how raw and powerful it was. I finished it feeling like I'd just watched an Oscar winning film. Banjo and Finlay were real, their emotions palpable, and their relationship beautiful. Not many books move me the way this one did. It had to win.”

Margaret McDonald describes her editorial relationship with Alice Swan and Ama Badu as unlike any other creative experience because, “they treated Banjo and Finlay as I do myself, which is as real people.” She adds, “I worked on every single aspect of Glasgow Boys with Alice and Ama, and it wouldn’t exist as it does today without them, truly.”

"Glasgow Boys is a piece of my soul and to have it recognised in this way is unbelievably special, but also to have my incredible editors Alice and Ama recognised for the magnificent work they did, taking such care of Banjo and Finlay, is more than half of the joy."

Alice Swan says, “I am so delighted that a story about two teenage boys emerging from the care system in Glasgow, with some of the dialogue in Scots, has received such extraordinary recognition. I fell in love with Glasgow Boys on my very first read, and the whole publishing journey has been one of mutual appreciation, trust and respect for two very important characters. This book has so many powerful things to say, and I am utterly thrilled by the incredible reader response. For Ama and I to have our contribution celebrated by this unique award is a lovely bonus.”

Ama Badu says, "It's such a thrill to see the well-deserved praise and accolades Glasgow Boys has received. We knew just how special this story was from the start, and it brings me such joy to know that so many can see the same beauty. It's a book that every reader can draw solace from. I'm honoured to have played a part in its journey."

Julia Eccleshare, Chair of the judges and co-founder of the Branford Boase Award adds, “Congratulations to Margaret McDonald, Alice Swan and Ama Badu. Tender and insightful, Glasgow Boys is a deeply moving story shaped by the struggles against class and poverty that so many young people in today's society must overcome to change their lives and opportunities. Despite all, Margaret McDonald's characters are full of hope and the story is refreshingly strong and bold, too. The relationship between author and editor is generally invisible to readers but is absolutely vital to the success of individual books, authors, and the publishing industry. We are immensely proud to highlight this with the Branford Boase Award.”

The Winners

The 2025 winners of the Branford Boase Award were announced by Nathanael Lessore on Wednesday 9 July at a ceremony at CLPE, Webber Street, London SE1 8QW.  Margaret McDonald receives a cheque for £1,000 and she and Alice Swan and Ama Badu receive engraved trophies.

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