Submission opportunities for authors and illustrators and exciting industry news

February 2025 children's publishing updates

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant! (Or Happy St David’s Day for the English speakers!)

We can’t quite believe how fast February went. There’s lots going on in publishing at this time of year and there are loads of submission opportunities which we’re excited to share with you at the end of this post.

We’ve been busy working away on lots of exciting new projects, have interviewed some fantastic creatives for Words and Pictures and even managed a very quick trip to London because…

Naomi was shortlisted for the ALCS and NLT Ruth Rendell Award for services to literature! We both went to the award ceremony and had a brilliant night meeting all the shortlisted authors and illustrators.

You can read more about the winner Tom Percival and how inspirational Naomi found it here. The award ceremony was hosted by former children’s laureate Joseph Coelho who we had the pleasure of interviewing recently - you can watch our chat here.

This month we’ve also shared some fascinating interviews with Keris Fox, Neill Cameron and Jodie Lancet-Grant.

Whilst in London we just had time to visit a couple of bookshops before it was time to get the train back to Cornwall (along with the balloons the lovely hotel receptionist gave Naomi when she heard about the award!)

Naomi also squeezed in a local event for The Odd Fish during half term amongst lots of beach fun with our boys.

The world of publishing

Spring is abundant busy time of year in the world of publishing:

The Waterstones Children’s book prize shortlist was announced in February. There are some awesome books on the shortlist. In the picture book category we’re rooting for Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf written by our friend Craig Barr-Green. Do check it out if you haven’t already!

The Carnegie longlist for writing and illustration was also announced and is well worth looking at.

Tickets for London Book Fair 11th-13th March are now on sale. Closely followed by the Bologna Book Fair which is coming up at the end of March. Bologna was always Naomi’s favourite fair when she worked in rights - mostly because of the amazing Italian food. You can find out more about what actually happens at a book fair here.

World Book Day takes place next week on Thursday 6th March and it’s always such an amazing celebration of stories. We’ve got a busy week of school visits planned but still have a couple of slots for virtual visits available if you know any schools who are interested. You can find out more about our events here.

Finally the government’s consultation regarding their proposed changes to copyright law ended on 25th February. You can find out more about it, the Make it Fair campaign and how to write to your MP about the issue on the ALCS website here.

Submission opportunities

There is a really great range of opportunities for illustrators and writers this month - do let us know if you submit to any of them.

Agents Greene and Heaton are currently running the Green Door project. It is open to underrepresented YA writers. Deadline 21st March.

The Children’s Writers and Illustrators online festival is taking place between 22nd-23rd March.

The Irish Writers National Mentoring Programme is open for applications until Sunday 2nd March.

AOI are offering free mentoring for illustrators who are underrepresented in the industry. Deadline midnight 17th March

The Chicken House fiction competition is now open. Deadline is 2nd June.

Indie publishing house Hashtag Press are running a competition seeking diverse young fiction and middle grade writers. Deadline 1st May.

Children’s literary magazine Little Thought Press is open for submissions until 31st March.

Literary magazine Northern Gravy is open for kid lit submissions until 9th March.

The Shirley Hughes Sketchbook Award for observational drawings by Orange Beak Studio is free to enter and open from 13th Feb - 16th May. First prize is £1000 plus an Orange Beak tutorial.

The Write Mentor Novel and Picture Book Award in partnership with David Higham Associates is looking for new talent in children’s and young adult fiction. Entries are open now until 1st April.

The Alice Corrie Award at Orange Beak Studio invites picture book authors to submit a manuscript by 3rd March 2025. The winner gets £200 and have the opportunity to meet a publisher online. This award is in memory of editor Alice Corrie who Naomi worked with on her books How to Catch a Rainbow and How to Make a Story.

You can also join author Sarah Tagholm and illustrator Laurie Stansfield for a virtual event at 7-8pm on March 11th where they will share their secrets for how to create a picture book that’s full of energy. The event is free for anyone who buys a copy of their new book Brenda’s Revenge from Reading Rocks.

Good luck if you apply to any of the above competitions and don’t forget to subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any of our interviews, monthly round ups and info for authors and illustrators.

Paid subscribers also get the chance to join us for a monthly zoom call. This is what one of our paid subscribers recently said about it:

“Kid lit writers, do not sleep on Naomi & James's monthly subscriber zoom calls. In our half hour chat, I gained a wealth of helpful insight into my own manuscript and the publishing world. This type of access to creative's with their credentials is pretty astounding.”

Why subscribe to Words and Pictures?

• We’ll share everything we know about making books and how the industry works in a new post each Monday.

• Every month we’ll hold a live session for community members to ask us anything and everything they want to know about writing, illustrating and getting published. The next live session is Sunday 30th March 8pm GMT.

• There will also be free interviews every Friday with authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as they spill the ink about life behind the scenes making books.

• Every month we’ll also highlight submission opportunities and exciting new releases in the world of children’s books.

Naomi and James x