Margaret McDonald heads judges for 2026 Branford Boase Award
The judges for the 2026 Branford Boase Award, which recognises the author and, uniquely, the editor of the year’s outstanding debut novel for children, have been announced. They include the winning author of the 2025 Branford Boase Award Margaret McDonald. McDonald won with Glasgow Boys (Faber). She will be joined by children’s book experts, Katherine Woodfine, author and reviewer for The Week Junior; Stephen Dilley, Head of English at Kendrick School, Reading and part of the UKLA Book Awards team; and Anjali Patel Lead Advisory Teacher, CLPE. The judging panel will be chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s book consultant, the Hay Festival.
The Branford Boase Award was created in 2000 by Julia Eccleshare and Anne Marley in memory of award-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase and rewards the most promising new authors for young people and their editors. Now in its third decade, it remains the sole award to highlight the work of editors in supporting new authors and ensuring their work is the best it can be. With its emphasis on the craft of writing and the crucial role played by editors, the award showcases outstanding writing for children. Being shortlisted for the award is a sought-after accolade and winning authors and editors are recognised as setting standards in publishing excellence.
Previous winning authors include Meg Rosoff, Liz Hyder, M.G. Leonard, Maisie Chan and Nathanael Lessore; winning editors include Barry Cunningham, David Fickling and Fiona Kennedy.
Opening the 2025 Branford Boase Award, chair of judges Julia Eccleshare MBE says, “The Branford Boase Award is a singular barometer of developments in children’s books. It is always exciting to open the Award and particularly so now. Recent shortlists have highlighted significant shifts of direction in writing for children. We look forward to finding fresh voices in the submissions, stories we haven’t read before, and which connect directly with today’s young readers.”
Publishers are invited to make their submissions for the 2026 Branford Boase Award now. The closing date is midnight Friday 28 November 2025.
