Winners of the 2021 Henrietta Branford Writing Competition Announced

Ahead of this coming Thursday’s announcement of the winner of the Branford Boase Award for a first children’s novel, six young writers aged between 9 and 17 have been named the winners of the  Henrietta Branford Writing Competition for Young People which runs in conjunction with the main award and aims to encourage writers of the future.

Entrants were asked to complete a story begun by last year’s Branford Boase Award winner, author Liz Hyder. Liz often finds inspiration in graveyards – so many names waiting to be reused – and her opening paragraph, written in the graveyard of St Leonard’s Church, Ludlow, near to her home, caught the imagination of hundreds of young people.

Entrants followed Liz’s advice to take their story where they wanted, and the six winners are therefore very different but all of an exceptionally high standard. Prue Goodwin, lecturer in literacy and children’s books, judges the competition, which is now in its 22^nd year, and declared the entries, ‘without a doubt, the best collection of stories’ that she has received.

The winners are:

Gracie Beirne aged 15 years from Fleetwood, Lancashire for Remember

Pascale Connors aged 10 years from London, for Last Days of Summer

 Finn Else-McCormack aged 17 years from London, for Endings

 Isabella Greenaway aged 15 years from Rickmansworth for Dear Tom

 Leonardo Teodoro aged 12 years from London for Twisted Time

 Euan Wood aged 9 years from Edinburgh for The Book of Crows.

You can read all the winning stories on the Branford Boase Award website and hear Prue Goodwin talking about the winners and their writing.

The judges also wanted to highlight the following talented young writers, whose stories are Highly Commended:

Lucie Bellamy age 8 years Cardiff

Lola Morgan age 13 years Milton Keynes

Jafar Alani age 12 years Potters Bar

Florence Johnson age 11 years Charles Kingsley Primary, Eversley

Elodie Dunn age 10 years Newton St Cyres

Darcey Prince age 9 years Wantage

Aishwarya Kozhikkottu Mundakkaparambil age 12 years Harrow

Millie Hargate age 14 years Great Sankey High School, Warrington

Maybelle Yang age 11 years London

Dhriti Mehrotra age 11 years Isleworth

Collette Foster age 16 years Bristol

Erica Cload age 12 years Inverness

The winners each receive signed copies of the books on the shortlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award.

The winner of the 2021 Branford Boase Award will be announced on Thursday 15 July as part of a special public event/celebration presented by the LoveReading LitFest.