Submission opportunities for children's authors and illustrators plus industry news
June 2025 publishing round up
Somehow 2025 is flying by and we are now half way through the year…
Our news
We’ve had a busy month making the most of the sunshine here in Cornwall and have been on the beach with our boys most weekends. We camped near Porthcurno for the summer solstice and walked to the Merry Maidens stone circle which was magical.
We’ve also been to the Great Estate Festival, The Royal Cornwall Show and the St Austell Literary Festival. Naomi learned how to make a basket on a basket weaving course and we even managed to squeeze in some actual work.
As well as being a longlisting judge for this year’s Jericho Prize which Naomi wrote about here, she’s been working with several mentees and writing some new manuscripts too. She also wrote an article for The Bookseller about why publishers should treat books more like bands.
James has been busy designing book covers and illustrating lots of new picture book texts.
Naomi’s new book The Hug Button publishes on Thursday and after her first event last week at a local library, she has a busy week planned of events and book shops signings. You can find out exactly what she’s doing to promote her book during publication week here.
This month we’ve also shared posts about how to overcome writer’s block, how to plan events for your book and what Naomi was planning a month before publication.
We’ve interviewed Sarah Tagholm, illustrator Anna Wilson, Julie Sykes and Paddy Donnelly and have some more amazing interviews lined up to share with you in July.
Industry news
This month the winners were announced for the FCBG’s Children’s Book Award, the children’s poetry CLiPPA awards, the Carnegies and the UKLA Book Awards. Craig Barr-Green was the very well deserved winner of the picture book category at the UKLA awards - you can watch our chat with him here.
For a reminder of why awards and doing market research is useful, check out this post here.
As well as several awards this month, there are lots of literary festivals and publisher summer parties too. We’re excited to go the HarperCollins and Penguin Random House summer parties in London this week.
If you want to find out more about what happens at a literary festival and how to prepare for them, do check out our recent post about them and our interviews with festival organisers Simon Pollard and Heather Wright to find out more.
Mentoring, picture book assessments and query letters
If you’re looking for help with your manuscript or query letter, Naomi offers bespoke mentoring and absolutely loves working with children’s writers.
If you’d like to find out more, just leave a message in the comments or drop her an email.
This is a review from a recent mentee:
‘Working with Naomi as a mentor has been such a joy. Her thoughtful feedback brought fresh perspective and new energy to my manuscript, and her encouragement gave me the confidence to push it further than I thought possible.
Naomi's warm, approachable style and incredible expertise left me feeling truly inspired. I've come away with a manuscript I'm genuinely proud of - and with skills and insights I'll carry into every future project.’
Submission opportunities
There are a lots of opportunities for writers and illustrators around at the moment. Please do share this post with writer/illustrator friends to help spread the word and let people know what’s out there.
Also if you can spare a moment to like this post we’d really appreciate it as this will help it be seen by more people. Thanks!
Children’s poetry magazine Tyger Tyger is open to submissions of unpublished poems around the theme of ‘surprise’. Deadline 31st July.
Children’s Book North has launched a new picture book prize for writers and illustrators living in the North of England. Submissions open in November this year and close in February 2026.
The Novelry is running a writing competition for fiction which includes children’s and YA. It has an incredible prize of £75,000. Deadline 31st July.
Mslexia’s Adult Novel writing competition is now open. It is open to YA entries. Deadline 22nd September.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust are running a writing competition. Deadline 12th July.
World of Books has launched the Sustainable Story Award for children’s authors based in the UK. The deadline is 6th July.
Faber has announced the FAB prize which is now open for writers and illustrators of colour. The competition closes 25th July. You can read our interview with previous winner Mariesa Dulak here.
Undiscovered Voices 2026 launches on May 22nd for unagented writers of Childrens and YA fiction with a free online event for SCWBI members. The competition itself opens on 3rd July and closes on September 8th.
Good luck!
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We’ll share everything we know about making books and how the industry works in a new post exclusively for paid subscribers 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 27th July 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 highlight submission opportunities and exciting new releases in the world of children’s books.
Love Naomi & James x
Lots of helpful information thank you & I love the photos of what you've been doing 😊
Very helpful, thank you