Primary Young Quills

The Young Quills Historical Fiction competition is held annually, both to recognise good historical fiction writing and to encourage youngsters to develop a love of history and a feel for the period they are studying. The Young Quills is unique in that it is the readers - young people - who decide the shortlist. The first Young Quills competition was won by Jacqueline Wilson for Hetty Feather in 2010. Read more

Why Young Quills?

One of the strengths of writing historical fiction is that historical knowledge can be learnt at any age and in many different ways, from real life testimony to fictional accounts. One of its weaknesses is that myths and untruths about historical events or people can become just as accepted as real facts. That is why authors who write historical fiction and do it well should be acknowledged and promoted. If those authors also help capture the imagination of young audiences, making the past real and accessible they and their work should be celebrated.

That is the purpose behind the Young Quills, an award that is all about historical fiction that is enjoyed by young people. New publications of historical fiction written specifically for a younger audience are selected each year to be reviewed by young people themselves. From their reading and discussion two shortlists are made, the best of primary historical fiction and the best of secondary historical fiction.

Competition criteria

The basic criteria for the Young Quills awards are straightforward:

Is it a 'good read'?
Does it have good historical content and factual information?
Is history a proper component of the story, not just a convenient backdrop or setting?
Does it inspire readers to find out more about that historical period or people?

This is an historical fiction competition so that does sometimes mean that excellent novels have not always made the shortlist – but that’s what criteria are for!

To qualify the book must also have been published in the previous year.

New categories

Until 2018 the competition took a simple Primary and Secondary split but the feedback from reviewers has made us realise that the child/young adult reading audience are more sophisticated than that. So in 2018 we created three categories:

7–9 year olds
10–13 year olds
14+ year olds

We've also included an extra 'early readers' category for books suited to 5–6 year olds.

The Young Judges

A wide selection of recently released books are sent to primary or secondary schools across England and a Library Reading Group to review and shortlist.