The Branford Boase Award for authors and their editors
The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition for young writers
Jacqueline Wilson has given a major financial boost to the Branford Boase Award again this year (2009). She comments:
“I have a special affection for this prize since I was invited to be the first Author Judge in 2000. Since then the prize has grown in stature with 36 titles submitted last year (2004), reflecting a great enthusiasm for new writing amongst publishers and readers alike. It can be such a struggle for new writers starting out that I am thrilled to be able to offer this support to a prize which can make a real difference to their prospects”.
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Philip Pullman talks about the crucial relationship between editor and new author:
"The Branford Boase Award is one of the most imaginative and useful prizes there are. Imaginative, because imagination is a way of seeing the truth about things, and the truth about writing and publishing novels is that a good editor is a story’s best friend and wisest counsellor. There are other people whose job is to do other kinds of things connected with the profession of writing: an agent will make sure the writer has the best financial deal, a publicist will make sure the book is as widely known as possible, librarians will bring the book to the attention of eager readers – and so on; but the real work is done when author and editor sit down together and work at making the story as good as it can possibly be. There are few rewards for editors, apart from the satisfaction of seeing ‘their’ books do well – but no-one knows what their contribution has been; and the Branford Boase award is a welcome and important way of celebrating what editors do".
"And it’s useful, because of course the award is shared, rightly, by a new author. Recognition at an early stage is a valuable boost to a writer’s career: not so much as to swamp it with unreal expectations, but enough to let them and everyone else know that their work is going to be worth watching. I’m very glad that the Branford Boase Award exists to do the excellent work it does, and also to celebrate the names of two great contributors to this business of making stories work as well as they possibly can".
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B R Collins - BBA Winner 2009
“Winning the Branford Boase is a huge honour. I was really overwhelmed, and delighted too that the prize recognises Emma, my editor, as she thoroughly deserves it. It's wonderful to get such a vote of confidence for my first book, and particularly exhilarating - if slightly scary - when I look at the list of previous winners. Now all I want is to live up to it! “
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Siobhan Dowd - BBA Winner 2007
“I’m moved beyond words at winning the Branford Boase Award. Henrietta Branford had a razor-sharp intellect and compelling honesty in her writing. Fire, Bed and Bone, which I’ve just finished, leaves me mourning the books-that-might-have-been had breast cancer not so cruelly taken her from us. This is an award that taps you on the shoulder and whispers “Hurry up and earn me.” I promise to do my level best. “
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Frances Hardinge - BBA Winner 2006
It is very easy for a first time novelist to feel like an impostor, to spend their time fretting that everybody who has shown faith in them will some day realise that they've made a horrible mistake. Winning the Branford Boase came as a glorious shock. I hope that for many years to come it will provide other new authors with a similar jolt, and help them feel like 'real writers'.
Meg Rosoff - BBA Winner 2005
How many good things can you cram into a single award? The Branford Boase honours the memory of a close and successful writer/editor team (Wendy Boase and Henrietta Branford) reminding us that it isn’t just the lonely writer and the computer who create a good novel. Add to that, a great rush of recognition for the ever-pessimistic first novelist, convinced his/her readership will be limited to members of the immediate family, and you have a prize that buoys spirit and ambition. (Now if only we could have a similar incentive for the painful second novel, to counteract the winner’s tendency to imagine his/her career has already peaked....)
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Mal Peet - BBA Winner 2004
For someone like me, someone not exactly brimful of confidence and self-belief, winning the BBA was a wonderful thing. It gave me the necessary cheek, the bottle, to carry on writing. So although it's an award for first novels, it's a unique encouragement for second, even third, novels. It's what a prize should be: a pat on the back that sends you staggering forwards.
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Kevin Brooks - BBA Winner 2003
Winning the BBA was a very special moment for me, a moment I'll remember for ever. As a writer, it's always encouraging to have your work recognised, but what makes the BBA special is that it gives that encouragement at the time when a writer most needs it - at the beginning of his or her career.
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Sally Prue - BBA Winner 2002
The thing about the BBA is, that when I won it I was so new that I hadn't the faintest idea what was going on. The thing that really made me realise what a special occasion it was, was when we got to the Oxo Tower afterwards (and I'd never been to a posh restaurant before) and they had a special FRIDGE for our flowers...I'm still hugely impressed by that! And, of course, now I understand more about the BBA, I'm totally gob-smacked at how LUCKY I was.
Winning the BBA was a huge confidence boost: the moment when I stopped being so completely terrified at being published, and really began to enjoy it.
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Marcus Sedgwick - BBA Winner 2001
Writing is a very hard game, and one of the biggest obstacles to starting is the fear of committing yourself to paper, and having people judge what you do. In retrospect, I think the most important thing the Branford Boase Award gave me gave me was validation: it gave me the confidence to believe that I had a right to do what I wanted to do.
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Katherine Roberts - BBA Winner 2000
What did winning the Branford Boase Award mean to me? Confidence! Whenever I feel worthless, the Branford Boase butterfly gives me the courage to spread my wings again.
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Endorsements
Branford Boase Award 2010