Faber and Andlyn announce the opening of the third FAB Prize for Undiscovered BAME Talent

Faber Children’s is now opening submissions for the Faber and Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators. The last two awards have led to numerous writers and illustrators finding representation and publishing deals.

This summer, Faber will be publishing Hannah Lee’s picture book My Hair (Highly Commended for writing, 2017) illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan (Second Prize for illustration, 2018).

Fatimaharan says of the project:

‘Coming runner-up in the FAB Illustration Prize has been a great experience. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Hannah to illustrate her fantastic picture book text. Her characters and world have been a joy to illustrate. And I have learnt a lot about picture book making from working with art directors Margaret and Emma and the rest of the team at Faber.’

This year there are two new judges on the panel: author Polly Ho-Yen (The Boy in the Tower) and illustrator John Aggs (Noughts and Crosses Graphic Novel) will join the Faber Children’s team, alongside the Andlyn Agency’s Davinia Andrew-Lynch.

Leah Thaxton, Publisher, says:

‘We love running the FAB Prize and are delighted that so many Commended and Highly Commended authors and illustrators are finding agents and publishers for their work, and that they continue to be a part of the brilliant support network that has built up around the prize. We are all very much looking forward to discovering a whole new seam of talent in 2019!’

Prize Details

First Prize

For illustration:

£500 (or £300 and a one-year portfolio membership for the Association of Illustrators, worth £200), plus a private consultation with Donna Payne (Faber Creative Director), Emma Eldridge (Faber Children’s Art Director) and Davinia Andrew-Lynch, followed by a year of regular mentoring, plus a selection of Faber books.

For text:

£500, plus a private consultation with Leah Thaxton and Davinia Andrew-Lynch, followed by a year of regular mentoring, plus a selection of Faber books.

Second Prize

Consultation with Leah Thaxton, Donna Payne, Emma Eldridge and Davinia Andrew-Lynch, plus a selection of Faber books.

• Entrants must be of black, Asian or minority ethnic background

• Entrants must be previously unpublished
  • Entries must be text or artwork for children (i.e. 1–18 years), not for adults
  • UK and Ireland residents only
  • Applicants must be over 18
  • Applicants can apply for both prizes – text and illustration – but can only submit one entry per text or art categoryAll email entries will be acknowledged on receipt, but only winners will be contacted directly, so please watch out for the announcement in July 2019!Text submission criteria

  • Please email or send by post a maximum of 5,000 words of text.
  • There is no minimum word count and the maximum 5,000 words can be a sample of a longer work – it does not have to be a short story (though those are welcome too!)
  • Please send in the complete story if the text is for a picture book. (Picture books should not be longer than 5000 words!)
  • If your text competition entry is for an illustrated book, you do not need to submit illustrations.
  • If sending by post, NO handwritten entries please.
  • Please do not send original work. Please do not send CDs of work.
  • We will not be able to return entries.
  • If emailing, please send the text either as a Word document or a PDF attachment, not in the body of the email, and put ‘Text Submission’ as the subject of your email heading.
  • Please include your name in the file name.

Illustration submission criteria

• Please email or send by post either 1) a maximum of ten A4 pages of illustration OR 2) the full layouts and illustrations for a 32-page picture book.
• Please do not send original work. Please do not send CDs of work.
• We will not be able to return entries.
• Entries can include text, but text is not necessary to enter the illustration competition.
• If emailing, please send your art as a PDF attachment, and put ‘Art Submission’ as the subject of your email heading.
• Please include your name in the file name.

Please send your entries by email to fab@faber.co.uk or please send your postal entries, marked ‘TEXT SUBMISSION, FAB PRIZE’ or ‘ILLUSTRATION SUBMISSION, FAB PRIZE’, to: Faber & Faber, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DA.

If you have any queries about criteria, please email fab@faber.co.uk.

• Competition opens: 27 February 2019

• Competition last date for entries: 14th June 2019

• Winner announcement: 14th August 2019