Emily Thomas explains the thinking behind the Guardian Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize.
Last week, the Guardian Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize winners were announced: 25-year-old Katie Coyle for Vivian Versus the Apocalypse and 24-year-old Joe Ducie for The Rig. The winners will get GBP 10,000 and have their books published in September. “We will be marketing and selling them with the same energy and commitment we give to all our authors and books,” says Emily Thomas, publisher at London-based Hot Key Books and one of the judges. “We see the winning authors as valuable assets on our list and will nurture and guide them throughout their writing careers. We are delighted to have them in the 'family'!”
For Thomas, the contest is really about Hot Key Books’ mission to champion and nurture talent. “By running a competition so specifically targeted at young writers, we really feel we are seeing the fresh, the invigorating and the 'open' talent that we may not receive on submission. Also, it is a great way of inspiring creativity and interest in books and the writing process in general as well as setting the tone for us, as a new publisher.”
Hot Key Books chose to partner with the Guardian because the two share similar values and the newspaper has a history of promoting literacy and literature competitions. The Guardian not only gives the contest the right kind of attention in its news and other channels, but also provided one of the judges, journalist Julia Eccleshare.
Along with the adult judges – Thomas, Eccelshare, plus ex-Chair of the Children’s Booksellers’ Association John Newman and authors Will Hill and Elen Caldecott – students from Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton, London and Thongsley Fields Primary School in Cambridgeshire were also involved in the judging process.
“The student judges were an invaluable part of the process,” says Thomas. “'In regard to judging the YA category there was an interesting, unanimous response from the student judges that echoed perfectly that of the rest of us. We are right on track in terms of appealing to our target audience for this category!”