The Branford Boase Award and The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition

Asli Jensen and her editor Shalini Vallepur are the winners of the 2026 Branford Boase Award given to the year’s outstanding debut novel for young people with Love on Sight (Chicken House). Love on Sight is a contemporary romance exploring the relationship between two young people caught between cultures, dealing with the undertone of religious expectations and coping with demanding family responsibilities

2026 Branford Boase Award

Asli Jensen and her editor Shalini Vallepur are the winners of the 2026 Branford Boase Award given to the year’s outstanding debut novel for young people with Love on Sight (Chicken House). Love on Sight is a contemporary romance exploring the relationship between two young people. They are caught between cultures, dealing with the undertone of religious expectations and coping with demanding family responsibilities while trying to live their lives as they want.

Read the Press Release Hear From Winners Past & Present See The 2026 Longlist! Hear From Winners Past & Present

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition 2026 is open!

The 2026 Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, the annual competition for young people which runs in conjunction with the Branford Boase Award, is now open.

The competition aims to find and encourage writers of the future, something Henrietta was always keen to do. Anyone under the age of 19 can enter.

This year’s competition theme was inspired by the book that won the Branford Boase Award in 2025, Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald.

A place or a person I know very well

2026 Competition Details 2026 Winners & Stories

The Branford Boase Award is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Walker Books.

The Branford Boase Award is one of the most imaginative and useful prizes there is. 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.

Philip Pullman

BBA & HBWC Administrator

Andrea Reece
30 Winton Avenue, London, N11 2AT
Tel: 0208 889 1292
Mob: 07807 893369
Email: branford.boase@gmail.com

Press Enquiries

Andrea Reece
Tel: 07807 893369 | Email: branford.boase@gmail.com

2026 Branford Boase Shortlist Announced!FIND OUT MORE!