As part of our agency’s aim to seek out and support the best writing for young people, and following the fabulous success of our Magical Competition for middle-grade fiction last year, we are now on the lookout for outstanding writing for Young Teens. So if you are an unagented, unpublished writer with a gem in your bottom drawer or a twinkle of an idea in your mind – now is your time to shine!

While we at Skylark love a good, edgy top-end YA novel, we thought that it was time to find something uplifting and wonderful for slightly younger readers. We want to see compelling voices with strong characters and a gripping story, but without all the sex, drugs and rock and roll... (well, maybe a little bit of rock and roll!).

Essentially, we want an unputdownable read for 13-15 year olds!

The Guest Judges

Once again, we have a starry panel of guest judges! This year we are honoured to have on our panel:

Lauren Fortune, Senior Commissioning Editor, Fiction, Scholastic Children’s Books

Ellen Holgate, Editorial Director, Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Florentyna Martin, Children’s New Titles Buyer, Waterstones

The Prize

The prize will be a one-to-one editorial critique of your finished manuscript by phone, or in person (locations allowing), with Joanna and/or Amber. We will suggest ways in which you could polish and perfect your novel to improve its chances of representation and publication, and seek to answer any queries you may have about the children's publishing industry in general.

The Deadline!

The deadline for competition entries is Easter Sunday (27th March 2016). So CLICK HERE for how to enter together with the full terms and conditions.