The longlist for the 2015 Branford Boase Award was announced Tuesday 27 January 2015. The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent. Once again, more than 60 books were submitted for the award; proof of the lively state of publishing for children in the UK, and of publishers’ eagerness to find talented new writers. 18 books have made it onto the longlist. These include Sally Green’s international bestseller Half Bad and Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall, one of the launch titles from three times winning editor David Fickling’s new publishing house. The Branford Boase Award judging panel has an extremely successful record in picking future best-selling and critically acclaimed authors. To date seven previous winners and shortlisted authors have gone on to win the UK’s most prestigious children’s book award, the CILIP Carnegie Medal: Kevin Brooks, Siobhan Dowd, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, Philip Reeve, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Patrick Ness. This year the judges are librarian and chair of Ibby UK Pam Dix; Sue Jones, children’s books consultant; Clare Maltby, bookseller from P & G Wells in Winchester; and C. J. (Chelsey) Flood, author of Infinite Sky, winner of the 2014 Branford Boase Award. The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s books editor of The Guardian and Editorial Director of Lovereading4kids.   Julia Eccleshare says:  “When we launched the award fifteen years ago, less than a dozen books were submitted. It’s been hugely encouraging to watch the submission numbers grow. The children’s book market today is extremely vibrant, and this longlist features 18 very varied books by interesting new authors.”   The shortlist for the Award will be announced on 4 May 2015.  The winner will be announced in early July at a ceremony in London. The Branford Boase Award longlist in full many of which have been read and reviewed by the Lovereading4kids Reader Review Panel:   Bone Jack by Sara Crowe, edited by Charlie Sheppard and Eloise Wilson (Andersen Press) A Room full of Chocolate by Jane Elson, edited by Naomi Greenwood (Hodder Children’s Books) Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret by D. D. Everest edited by Alice Swan and Toni Markiet (Faber Children’s Books) Broken Strings by Maria Farrer, edited by Helen Thomas (Scholastic) The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss, edited by Jane Griffiths (Simon & Schuster) Cowgirl by Giancarlo Gemin, edited by Kirsty Stansfield (Nosy Crow) Half Bad by Sally Green, edited by Ben Horslen (Puffin) Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall, edited by David Fickling and Bella Pearson (David Fickling Books) The Executioner’s Daughter by Jane Hardstaff, edited by Stella Paskins (Egmont) Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen, edited by Carmen McCullough and Lauren Buckland (Random House) City of Halves by Lucy Inglis, edited by Imogen Cooper (Chicken House) Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall, edited by Sarah Hughes (Egmont) True Fire by Gary Meehan edited by Sarah Lambert (Quercus) Trouble by Non Pratt, edited by Annalie Grainger & Denise Johnstone-Burt (Walker Books) Leopold Blue by Rosie Rowell, edited by Emily Thomas (Hot Key) Valentine Joe by Rebecca Stevens, edited by Rachel Leyshon (Chicken House) The Dark Inside by Rupert Wallis, edited by Jane Griffiths (Simon & Schuster) Dandelion Clocks by Rebecca Westcott, edited by Alexandra Antscherl (Puffin)