First Chapter Awards Ceremony 2026
Young writers celebrated at BookFest YA ‘First Chapter’ Awards
Young writers from across the Chichester area have been celebrated at a special awards ceremony held as part of BookFest YA.
The 11 to 16-year-old finalists in BookFest YA’s creative writing competition gathered at Chichester’s historic 300-year-old Assembly Room on Thursday 24th September, to read extracts from their work to an audience of 100 parents, carers, grandparents, siblings, friends, teachers and school librarians.
Prizes were presented by the Mayor of Chichester, Councillor Sean McHale, and YA author Nicola Garrard, recognising the emerging literary talent among young people in the city and surrounding area.
The event brought together pupils from Chichester High School, Chichester Free School, Fordwater School, Bishop Luffa School, Fordwater SEND School and home-educated families from the Chichester area, who had had the opportunity during June to meet YA and Children’s authors, Lucas Maxwell, Briony Thompson, Tasneem Abdur-Rashid, Nicola Garrard and the Children’s Laureate, Patrice Laurence.
Ed Bond, senior teacher at Fordwater SEN School and young writer Charlotte, collected the picture book written by Charlotte and her class when they were visited by picture book author-illustrator, Briony Thompson.
The First Chapter winners were:
Alisha Tanisha, of Chichester High School;
Ella Blamire, of Bishop Luffa School;
and Emily Stringer, of Chichester Free School.
Key Stage 3 Winner, Alisha Tanisha, said, “I met Tasneem Abdul-Rashid when she visited Chichester High School in June. I found hearing about her experiences and journey as a writer very inspiring. Meeting her encouraged me to continue developing my own writing and made me realise that my experiences and perspective are something I can bring into my work.”
Runner-up, Ruby Simpson, said, “I had a lot of fun reading out my story, and seeing everybody’s passion for writing and their different stories! Everybody had something so unique, and it was my first time being recognised properly for something like tonight, and it was an honour. I will remember this night forever.”
The competition was made possible with £100 worth of book token prizes donated by Steve Howe of The Petworth Bookshop, who also ran a pop-up children’s and YA bookshop on the night. A further £50 of prizes was donated by Waterstones Chichester.
BookFest YA was funded by Chichester City Council as an initiative for the National Year of Reading 2026, with organisers thanking the council and the Mayor for their support.
BookFestYA is also having a long-lasting impact by coordinating the donation of a new YA library to Chichester Free School.
Ruth Huddleston, publisher of Old Barn Books, who attended the evening, said, “You could really tell those kids were big readers!”
BookFest YA director, Nicola Garrard, said the inaugural festival and creative writing competition demonstrated that, “counter to the stereotypes sometimes associated with teenagers, so many young people are passionate about reading and creative writing.”
The organisers would like thank the young writers and their families, participating schools and librarians, Steve Howe and The Petworth Bookshop, Waterstones Chichester, Chichester City Council, and the BookFest trustees and director for helping make the celebration possible.
