First Novel Award 2026 Longlist Announcement

Despite a rocky start, with our old website crashing at the absolute worst time — the final weekend before submissions closed (we're very sorry about that) — we received a whopping 1,458 entries!

Our team of editors went through several rounds of reading, and the strongest entries were sent to the judges, literary agent Olivia Maidment and author Freya Bromley. We managed to find a date at the beginning of August when no one was on annual leave (no mean feat), and after a lot of fun debate and passionate speeches in favour of our favourites, we managed to select a longlist.

A huge congratulations to the authors of these 23 longlisted titles:

A Citizen of In Between and Nowhere

Before It Ends Again

Blue Mountain

Comets

Concept Contamination

Every Day Stella

Ghost Trails

Ink

Loch Assynt

Mystery Shopper

Observation Error

PANOPTICON

The Kingdom of Asia

The Luxury of Choice

The Salt Flats

The Singed Butterfly

The Tender Soil

Three Seasons of Fever

Until Forever

When the Cherry Blossom Falls

Where a heart should be

Wink

Yon Time

A Citizen of In Between and Nowhere	Literary / Historical
Before It Ends Again	Speculative Psychological Thriller
Blue Mountain	Literary Psychological Drama
Comets	Upmarket Speculative Romance
Concept Contamination	Science Fiction
Every Day Stella	Contemporary Women's Fiction
Ghost Trails	Upmarket / Speculative
Ink	Literary
Loch Assynt	Mystery
Mystery Shopper	Literary
Observation Error	Literary
PANOPTICON	Literary / Speculative
The Kingdom of Asia	Literary / Historical
The Luxury of Choice	Literary / Historical
The Salt Flats	Speculative
The Singed Butterfly	Historical
The Tender Soil	Literary Family Saga
Three Seasons of Fever	Historical Crime
Until Forever	Cosy Urban Fantasy
When the Cherry Blossom Falls	Literary Family Saga
Where a heart should be	Speculative
Wink	Historical Murder Mystery
Yon Time	Literary coming-of-age

Not being on the longlist does not mean that your novel isn't excellent or publishable. Many factors come into curating a longlist, and unfortunately, some extremely worthy novels don't always make it through. You should be proud of putting your novel out there. Our readers will remember your words.

BPA partner Frances has written a blog with some thoughts and feedback on reading for this year's competition, which will give you some insight into the process and what makes a submission stand out.

So many of the entries were nearly there, and there were times when our fingers itched to give a specific opening a good edit because we could see exactly what was needed to turn a maybe/no into a yes. If you've reached the Top 100 in a competition, especially, we would really recommend getting at least a submission package review, because there will often be something fixable stopping your novel from going through. This recommendation, of course, is valid for anyone serious about getting published.

That's why we're giving a First Novel Award special offer: £50 off all submission package reviews for the next month. We'll also do a special report on your First Novel Award submission — opening 5,000 words, cover letter and synopsis — for £199.

Send an email to info@bluepencilagency.com to benefit from these special offers.

This year, we noticed a lot of AI, dystopian and coercive-control-related themes, and, surprisingly, very few crime novels.

We did notice the use of AI in some entries, though we are still working out how best to identify and tackle this new issue. In the words of our Short Story Award judge, Corissa Hollenbeck, looking forward, we will prioritise writing that feels distinctly human.

Why give away the joy of creation to a machine?

Our imaginations are one of the few things that can't be taken away from us (yet), and your voice is intrinsically linked to your unique experiences. We want to discover that voice on the page.

We look forward to reading your work, and only your work, in our future writing competitions. This year, we are also running the Short Story Award and the Pitch Prize.

Let us discover what wonderful things you've been writing!