THE BOOKSELLER ANNOUNCES THE YA BOOK PRIZE

The Bookseller is launching a dedicated Young Adult book prize for UK and Irish literature, it was announced today at its annual Children’s Conference for publishers, booksellers, librarians and authors.

Produced in association with story publishing site Movellas, the prize is the first in the UK and Ireland to specifically focus on fiction for young adults and addresses an important unmet need for a prize in the growing YA and teen market. Open to any young adult novel published in the UK or Ireland between 1^st January and 31^st December 2014, the prize will celebrate great books for teenagers and young adults and aims to get more teens reading and buying books.

Publisher and Chief Executive ofThe Bookseller Nigel Roby says, ‘I could not be more delighted that we are launching The YA Book Prize. From the very first meetings with publishers and retailers it has been crystal clear that the prize is much needed and that The Bookseller is ideally placed to deliver it…The Bookseller has one simple desire that underpins everything we do - we want more readers reading more books. The YA Book Prize gives us a wonderful opportunity to put that desire into practice’.

Children's Editor CharlotteEyre added,‘In July we wrote an article about the proliferation of children's book prizes across the UK. Several publishers we spoke to pointed out that despite the huge number of book prizes there was no high-profile, dedicated prize for UK and Irish YA literature. British and Irish YA books are either judged alongside children's books, or they are over shadowed by their US counterparts. We thought that here atThe Bookseller we could launch a prize to fill that gap’.

Movellas C.E.O. Joe Cohensaid, ‘We wanted to help launch the Teen Book Award because of our community's relationships with teen books. If we can help raise the profile of YA authors and their books - we're playing a small part in helping our community -- and all young people -- to engage with great writing’.

The judging panel, led by Eyre, comprises leading industry figures such as World Book Day director Kirsten Grant, Waterstones children’s buyer Melissa Cox, vlogger Rosianna Halse Rojas and freelance journalist Imogen Russell Williams.

Teen readers themselves will be involved in the judging process and five from across the UK and Ireland will be asked to vote for their top titles.

The adult judges will also pick their top three titles. Votes will be added up and the winner will be chosen out of the top three most popular books.

Submissions are now open and close on 31^st October 2014. An internal panel will then choose the shortlist, which will be announced 1^st December.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on 19^th March 2015.