Dust off those manuscripts, open your computers – and take the plunge if you think your book might be in with the chance of joining this pile of brilliant and award-winning books…
It’s time for the Guppy Open Submission Competition again – this year we are inviting unpublished and unagented writers to send in their Teen and Young Adult manuscripts during the week of Monday 6th to Friday 10th July 2026.
We would like to see up to 2000 words of your novel, and in addition, a short synopsis. Please send in the same document. Please submit in a Word or pdf document to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the Open Submission window only.
Writers who have been traditionally published in other genres are unfortunately not eligible. This competition is open to self-published authors. Please send your submission to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the specified dates only. Any entries sent before or after this time will not be eligible. ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON.
We will choose a longlist and announce on our website in early September, followed by a shortlist in early October. A winner will be chosen by the end of November 2026,
Any other enquiries, please email submissions@guppybooks.co.uk.
PRESS RELEASE:
Guppy Books Announces 2026 YA Open Submission Dates
For Immediate Release
The prestigious Guppy Open Submission competition will run again in 2026, with this year’s focus on young adult manuscripts. Unagented and unpublished authors are invited to submit their stories for teen and YA readers during the week of Monday 6th July to Friday 10th July, with a shortlist announced in Autumn 2026. The winner will be chosen by a panel of expert judges, and offered a publishing contract with Guppy Books. The shortlisted authors will be offered an editorial meeting with Bella Pearson, Guppy’s founder and publisher and herself an award-winning editor.
The Guppy Open Submission has been a runaway success since it first ran in 2020, with winners and runners-up from both the middle grade and YA competitions subsequently shortlisted for multiple national and regional awards. Past YA winners include Nadia Mikail, who won the inaugural Open Submission Competition in 2020 for The Cats We Meet Along the Way and went on to win the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2023, as well as gaining shortlist spots for the YA Prize and Branford Boase. Apocalypse Cow, by OR Sorrel, won in 2022 and went on to be shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2024. The 2024 winner, Ellen Osborne, published The Seeker and the Shade in May 2026 and is garnering critical acclaim across the board.
2026 has been a fantastic year for multiple Open Submission winners, with Janeen Hayat (Middle Grade Open Submission Winner in 2023) winning the Waterstones Prize 2026 Younger Readers Category in March, with further shortlistings for the Branford Boase, UKLA and The Week Junior Book Awards 2026.
Nadia Mikail’s second novel, A Flood Of Memories, publishes this month and she sums up the Open Submission impact on her career perfectly. ‘I’m not exaggerating when I say the Guppy Books Open Submission competition changed my life – it opened up a whole new world for me, it allowed me to fulfil one of my biggest dreams, and it allowed me to keep writing – an utterly priceless gift! I was a university student without an agent who didn’t know anyone in the industry, and through this competition Guppy took a chance on me – there’s never been a downside since, and now I’m publishing my second book. Why wouldn’t you submit your manuscript?’
Bella Pearson adds: ‘It has always been of utmost importance at Guppy for us to be as open as possible to unpublished writers – and it is exciting to imagine a writer out in the world yet to be discovered in 2026! We urge everyone with a young adult manuscript to be brave, take the plunge and submit to the competition because you never know where it will take you!’
More information, including on how to submit, can be found at www.guppybooks.co.uk.
About Guppy Books:
Guppy Books was launched in 2019, and since then has seen numerous titles shortlisted for key children’s book prizes including the Costa Book Award, the Branford Boase, the Yoto Carnegie Medal, as well as winning the Waterstones Overall Children’s Book Prize in 2023 and two WeekJunior Book of the Year Awards in 2024. The small but mighty Guppy list now comprises of over sixty titles which have garnered acclaim across the board and includes authors such as Lisa Williamson, Kenneth Oppel, The Brothers McLeod, Julian Sedgwick and Louisa Reid.
Follow us on Twitter @guppybooks, Facebook (/guppypublishing) and Instagram @guppypublishing.
GOOD LUCK!