We are delighted to be announcing here the shortlist for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2022. We wish to commend all shortlisted authors on the strength of their submissions, particularly given the impressive quality and volume of submissions this year.

Our shortlisted writers demonstrated the ability to generate exciting ideas, write with confidence and style, and hook us into the story with their first few pages. Every writer shortlisted should be exceptionally proud to be amongst such a strong cohort.

The shortlisted writers for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2022 are as follows:

Penny Young

FQ Yeoh

Laide Akaso

Jonathon Ackroyd

Amber Boothe

Letitia Jarrett

Jaya Martin

Emily Gaywood-James

Ronan Rooney

Zahirra Dayal

Nasheema Lennon

Our thanks go out once more to all the writers who applied. We would encourage all unsuccessful applicants to keep an eye out for future opportunities from us!

Owned Voices is rerunning their award for writers living in the UK from traditionally under-represented backgrounds in publishing. This includes writers who identify as LGBTQ+, ethnic minorities, and writers with disabilities.

Last year, following anonymous donations, a cash prize of £250 was created for the two competition winners. This year, in addition to receiving editorial feedback and one-to-one mentoring over a six-month period, winners are being offered that £250 cash prize each again. Shortlisted writers and winners will once more be invited to a ‘Routes to Getting Published’ Q&A panel, to help demystify the process of securing an agent and a publisher.

Cathy Cole, winner of the Owned Voices Novel Award 2021 said, “Winning has been an amazing experience, a total confidence booster. Being able to talk to the panel of industry experts – who gave so generously of their time and expertise – was so informative and enlightening. These guys – agents, editors – are real people. They love words, books, and they want to help you share your work with readers around the world. And there is no greater lover of prose than editor Leodora Darlington. I was privileged to be paired with her for my Owned Voices journey. I would encourage any writer to submit to the Owned Voices Novel Award. Trust me, you won’t regret it.”

Kitty Edwards, winner of the Owned Voices Novel Award 2021 said, “Winning Owned Voices last year was a fantastic boost. The honest feedback and industry insight from Katie Fulford has been invaluable in re-writing my manuscript to turn it into the novel I always wanted to create. I’ve also met an incredible support group with which to take my writing forward. Thank you Katie and Owned Voices!”

Mentors this year are Emily Glenister, Literary Agent at D H H Literary, and Rhea Kurien, Editorial Director at Orion Dash.

Emily Glenister said, “When Leodora asked me to be a part of Owned Voices, naturally I jumped at the chance. Finding and nurturing diverse voices is something I am deeply passionate about – as is making the often seemingly scary and daunting world of publishing less so for hopeful authors. For those of us fortunate enough to be professionals of the industry, I believe it’s our duty to give back where and when we can, so I am delighted to be involved with this fantastic initiative.”

Rhea Kurien said, “I'm so pleased to have the chance to mentor one of the winners of the Owned Voices Novel Award 2022. It is so vital that we find and nurture new and diverse voices in fiction, and I'm thrilled to have this opportunity.”

Leodora Darlington, founder of Owned Voices and Editor at Amazon Publishing, is returning as a judge alongside Callen Martin, Agency Assistant at The Good Literary Agency, and Aliya Gulamani, Junior Commissioning Editor at Unbound.

Callen Martin said, “I'm so excited to read for this year's Owned Voices Novel Award, finding submissions that pique my interest with the sheer strength of their pitch and keep me glued to the page by the brilliance of their writing. There is such a need for compelling and representative fiction and I cannot wait to discover it with Owned Voices.”

Aliya Gulamani said, “Giving writers from under-represented backgrounds space on our bookshelves is what drives me in my career. This is why I'm thrilled to be a judge for the Owned Voices Award and to see the range of stories submitted.”

Writers who would like to enter the competition will need to submit a pitch of two-to-three lines and a short synopsis in addition to their manuscript. To open up the award to writers with works-in-progress who might be feeling stuck, this year, manuscripts needn’t be complete upon submission, but must be a length of at least 40,000 words. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm on Friday 28th February 2022. Shortlisted applicants will be notified by 14th April 2022 with winners announced on the 19th May 2022.

Leodora Darlington said, “It has been really special to see last year’s deeply talented winners continue to grow as writers, and to see shortlisted authors finding a community with each other. In opening up the competition to writers with incomplete manuscripts, I hope to attract talent that might be at the point with their WIP where professional advice would be transformative. I cannot emphasise enough how excited I am to find and help nurture new talent this year.”

Further details on the Owned Voices novel award can be found here.