Jones, Rutter and Fadugba longlisted for Branford Boase Award

Rosie Jones, Helen Rutter and Femi Fadugba are among those shortlisted for this year’s Branford Boase Award.

A record 69 books were submitted from 30 publishers, which have been whittled down to a longlist of 25 for this year’s prize. The award was set up in memory of award-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase, one of the founders of Walker Books, and is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. It has a notable record in picking out the most talented authors at the start of their career. Past winners and shortlisted authors have included Siobhan Dowd, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Patrick Ness as well as Frances Hardinge, M G Leonard and Philip Reeve.

The award also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent. Among the editors in the running this year are Fiona Kennedy of Zephyr, who won the inaugural prize in 2001 and is now up for a third award; Bella Pearson of Guppy Books, also a two times winner though sharing the honours both times previously with David Fickling; and Usborne’s Rebeca Hill and Becky Walker who have both been shortlisted three times in the past four years, winning in 2018.

This year the judges are Struan Murray, author and winner of the 2021 Branford Boase Award; critic Imogen Russell Williams; Farrah Serroukh, research and development director of CLPE; and Sonia Thompson, head teacher at St Matthew’s Primary School, Birmingham. The judging panel will be chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s director of the Hay Festival.

Eccleshare said: "We are thrilled to announce record numbers of entries for the 2022 Branford Boase Award and excited that our longlist reflects the current dynamic state of publishing for children in the UK. The pace of change in children’s books since the creation of the Branford Boase Award has been phenomenal and once again, we find debut authors covering new territory, encouraged and supported by their editors. We are pleased too to see independent publishers Guppy Books, Hope Road and Zuntold represented for the first time. As ever, our judges bring a wealth of experience, and we are looking forward to what is certain to be a very lively discussion at the shortlisting meeting."

The award is sponsored by Walker Books. The shortlist will be announced on 28th April 2022.  The winner will be announced on 14th July 2022 at an awards ceremony in London.

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, the annual competition for young people which runs in conjunction with the award, will open on 7th February 2022.

The longlist in full:

• Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-ÍyÍmídé, edited by Becky Walker (Usborne)
• Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen, edited by Carmen McCullough and Tricia Lin (Penguin)
• Rapids by Anna Bowles, edited by Elaine Bousfield (Zuntold)
• Love is for Losers by Wibke Bruegemann, edited by Rachel Petty (Macmillan)
• Freddy vs School by Neill Cameron, edited by Anthony Hinton (David Fickling Books)
• Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths by Maisie Chan, edited by Georgia Murray (Piccadilly Press)
• The Girl Who … by Andreina Cordani, edited by Olivia Hutchings (Atom)
• Me, My Dad, and the End of the Rainbow by Benjamin Dean, edited by Lucy Rogers (Simon & Schuster)
• The Upper World by Femi Fadugba, edited by Emma Jones, Stephanie Stein & Asmaa Isse (Penguin)
• The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr, edited by Rebecca Hill (Usborne)
• 29 Locks by Nicola Garrard, edited by Joan Deitch (Hope Road)
• Maggie Blue and the Dark World by Anna Goodall, edited by Bella Pearson (Guppy Books)
• Circus Maximus Race to the Death by Annalise Gray, edited by Fiona Kennedy (Zephyr)
• Emmy Levels Up by Helen Harvey edited by Clare Whitson (OUP)
• The Amazing Edie Eckhart by Rosie Jones, edited by Polly Lyall Grant (Hodder Children’s Books), illus by Natalie Smillie
• The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant, edited by Natalie Doherty (Puffin)
• Grow by Luke Palmer, edited by Penny Thomas (Firefly Press)
• The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr, edited by Zöe Griffiths (Bloomsbury)
• The Peculiar Tale of the Tentacle Boy by Richard Pickard, edited by Kesia Lupo (Chicken House)
• Digger and Me by Ros Roberts, edited by Ella Whiddett (Little Tiger)
• The Boy who Made Everyone Laugh by Helen Rutter, edited by Lauren Fortune (Scholastic)
• Grimwood by Nadia Shireen, edited by Ali Dougal (Simon & Schuster)
• Something I Said by Ben Bailey Smith, edited by Ellen Holgate (Bloomsbury)
• The Ice Whisperers by Helenka Stachera, edited by Emma Jones (Puffin)
• The Lightning Catcher by Clare Weze, edited by Lucy Mackay-Sim (Bloomsbury)