COMPETITIONS UV Longlist

 

Words & Pictures is thrilled to share the longlist of writers who will be considered for the SCBWI–BI Undiscovered Voices 2024 anthology. There were so many wonderful entries and competition was fierce. Team UV 2024 reports.

 

SCBWI–BI's Undiscovered Voices project runs every two years and aims to help fresh, diverse new voices in children’s literature find agents and publishers. The anthology will be published in January 2024 and sent free of charge to editors and agents whose focus is children’s literature. The book is produced with the financial support of Working Partners Ltd, a London-based company that creates series fiction.

 

Authors and illustrators from the eight previous anthologies have received publishing contracts for more than 440 books and have been nominated for or won more than 200 literary prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, Branford Boase Award, Blue Peter Award, and the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award.

 

About the UV2024 Longlist

 

These talented writers were selected from over 220 submissions from SCBWI members in the British Isles and the EU.

 

In partnership with Megaphone and All Stories this year, over 20 free SCBWI memberships were awarded to underrepresented voices and writers with a financial barrier to entering. This builds upon our continued commitment to inclusion and diversity within children's literature in the UK and Europe – and to discovering the most exciting new talent.

 

A massive congratulations to the following authors:

Jules Aspinall	Kirsty Hammond
Louise Austin	Alka Handa
Sarah Bates	Sharon Louise Hindley
Fran Benson	Faye Holt
Steve Blackman	Joanna Howard
Jess Bleakley	Claire Lomas
Henry Coles	Allison Mandra
Kirsty Collinson	Catrìona McLean
Jennifer Combes	Eiman Munro
Stephen Daly	Richard James Parker
Ruth Ennis	Melissa Quashie
Elizabeth Fowler	Natalie Rutherford
Sarah Fulton	Esther Scherpenisse
Lorna Gill	Priyesh Shah
Natalia Godsmark	Barrie D Stevenson
Elizabeth Goode	Maggie Womersley

The Undiscovered Voices team endeavours to create an anthology that showcases the variety of writing available from SCBWI members in the British Isles and Europe. The goal of the anthology is not only to help the selected authors find agents and editors but also to promote the quality of work there is among SCBWI members in Britain and Europe.

 

The stories were considered anonymously and selected by a distinguished panel of industry experts:

 

• Zoë Plant, literary agent at The Bent Agency

 

• Amber Caravéo, literary agent and Director of Skylark Literary

 

• Jenny Savill, literary agent and Managing Director of Andrew Nurnberg Associates

 

• Saffron Dodds, Associate Agent at ASH Literary

 

• Louise Lamont, literary agent at LBA

 

• Sarah Stewart, Senior Commissioning Editor at Usborne

 

• Linas Alsenas, Editorial Director for Puffin/PRH

 

Congratulations to the 32 wonderful writers longlisted for Undiscovered Voices 2024. In January we will announce the lucky writers who will be featured in our ninth anthology.

 

Until then please do follow us on our brand-new UV Twitter where we celebrate successes and keep you updated on breaking UV news: @UVcompetition. Our website is a great source of writing advice, plus all the previous UV anthologies are free to download and read – visit undiscoveredvoices.com to discover more.

 

Best wishes, from all of us at Team UV 2024