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Greenhouse Literary Agency Funny Prize for Children’s Writers
The Greenhouse Funny Prize is open to un-agented writers who are currently resident in the UK and Ireland. Entries will be judged by Julia and guest judge Leah Thaxton, Publishing Director of Egmont Children’s Books (and renowned humour talent-spotter).
The winner will get an offer of representation from the Greenhouse Literary Agency and a full weekend ticket to the wonderful Writers’ Workshop Festival of Writing that runs from 7-9 September 2012 (worth £525). The winner will also be presented with a bottle of champagne at the Festival’s gala dinner on the Saturday night. The runners-up will each get five of our favourite funny books.
Our judging criterion is very simple. Funny, and we are wide open to all ages. The winner may be a picturebook like OLIVIA or DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, or a young series à la HORRID HENRY, FLAT STANLEY, THE GREAT HAMSTER MASSACRE or MR GUM, or for 8-12 year olds like Lemony Snicket or RAMONA. It could even be for teen readers, like Louise Rennison, DOES MY HEAD LOOK BIG IN THIS? or THE PRINCESS DIARIES.
ENTRY GUIDELINES
- To get a good sense of the voice and where the character is headed, we’d like to see the first 5000 words PLUS a short description (a few lines) of the book AND a one page outline that shows the spine of the plot. The book does not need to be completed at the time of entry.
- Please attach the 5000 words to a Word document and send your entries to funny@greenhouseliterary.com. If you are submitting a picturebook (or shorter fiction that comes in under 5000 words), then send the complete text in a Word document. The short description of the book and outline should be in the body of the email. PLEASE NOTE: This is different to our general Greenhouse submissions policy. If submitting work to the Greenhouse in the future (outside of the Funny Prize), visit the How to Submit section of the website to find our submission guidelines.
- You must be resident in the UK or Ireland.
- The deadline for submissions is Monday, 30 July.
The shortlist will be announced Monday, 6 August. We anticipate that about 6 writers will be shortlisted.
The winner will be announced Monday, 13 August. If we get two or more outstanding entries, we may offer representation to more than one writer.
Entrants will not be acknowledged on receipt, but all entrants will be emailed when the shortlist is announced.
Click here and here to read blog posts on the Funny Prize.
