A day at the Cheshire Novel Prize Awards ceremony

Hi everyone - Kiya here! Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend the Cheshire Novel Prize awards ceremony at the gorgeous Cranage Hall Hotel in Cheshire. Juliet had been involved with this prize for almost a year as part of the judging panel, and the ceremonial lunch was a lovely way to gather all the shortlisted authors in one place and celebrate their achievements. 

I was joined by judges Clio Cornish (Editorial Director at Penguin Michael Joseph), Honor Spreckley (Agent at RCW), and Sally O-J (editor), and it was wonderful to meet the shortlisted authors, who had written in genres ranging from thriller to historical fiction. I was particularly struck by how supportive and collegiate the shortlistees were, speaking to us and each other about their writing process, their experience of submitting to prizes – both the Cheshire Novel Prize and otherwise – and where they were in their publication journey.

It’s always a pleasure to talk to aspiring authors, and we had great conversations about submitting their books to agents and the experience from both sides of the process. We had photos taken and a delicious lunch, all looking forward to announcing the authors who had won First Prize and Highly Commended spots.

We gathered for the afternoon and each shortlisted author was asked to read an extract of their work, introducing themselves and their writing and having the opportunity to share their work aloud. This was the highlight of the day for me, and really showcased the high quality of the shortlisted pieces.

After much anticipation, Cheshire Prize Novel organiser Sara Cox stood to give a speech and to announce the authors who had won the First Prize and Highly Commended spots. Farrah Yusuf was announced as the Highly Commended winner for her mystery novel Almost Strangers, with Charlotte Morbey announced as the First Prize winner with her historical novel Smoke & Honey. Both authors gave lovely, emotional speeches and all of the shortlisted authors were praised for their achievements, with all of the judges emphasising the high quality of entrants and the difficulty in choosing only two.

After a quick cup of tea and congratulations, the judges all headed back to London. The whole day was such a lovely opportunity to meet aspiring authors and celebrate their success. If you’re a writer and want to submit your work to the Cheshire Novel Prize, they will be reopening to submissions on January 1st 2023. You can find more information about this year’s prize on their website.