Can of Worms announces best-selling NYT author as judge for the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize's YA
Independent publisher Can of Worms, which teams up with New York publisher Leapfrog Press for its Global Fiction Prize, has announced that this year’s prize for young adult fiction will be judged by New York Times best-selling author, Rosanne Parry.
Parry (pictured) is the author of A Wolf Called Wander (Greenwillow & Andersen Press) which has been on the NYT best seller list for more than two years and has been published in 14 languages. Her other novels include Heart of a Shepherd(Random House), Last of the Name (Learner) and her latest book, A Whale of the Wild (Greenwillow). She is also a part-time bookseller at legendary Portland independent bookstore Annie Blooms and lives with her family in an old farmhouse in Oregon, writing in a treehouse in her back yard.
This is the third year Can of Worms has been a co-sponsor of the annual prize, founded by former Leapfrog publisher Lisa Graziano in 2009, for unpublished short and long-form adult, YA and middle-grade fiction. The winner in each category receives a publishing contract and advance; runner-ups also receive a cash award and a critique of their work by the judges.
In August this year, Can of Worms and Leapfrog Press will be simultaneously publishing Lost River, 1918, Faith Shearin’s 2021 prize-winning entry, chosen by Carnegie Medal-winning author Anthony McGowan, who said of the book: "Lost River is an extraordinary work of art. It is a story of death and rebirth, borrowing from myth and fairy tale, but also conjuring up literary texts from Frankenstein and Dracula, from Southern Gothic to Magical Realism. It has the feel of an instant classic."
The judge for the Adult Fiction category is National Book Award winner, Nancy Pearl. The longlist for the 2022 prize will be announced in early July, and the winners in September. All submissions are anonymised for blind judging and entries close in May.
Further details are available online at here.
Having an experienced author judge a fiction prize can add real value because they bring a strong understanding of storytelling, character development and what makes a piece of writing connect with readers. It also gives emerging writers a useful benchmark for the quality expected. I see a similar value in level 2 counselling skills answers where clear examples can help learners understand what effective listening, questioning and communication look like in practice.
It is brilliant to see Rosanne Parry coming on board as the judge for the YA category of the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize. A Wolf Called Wander was such a standout book, so having an author of her calibre who actually writes from a backyard treehouse involved in evaluating new manuscripts brings great credibility to the competition. Between juggling literary research and needing a bit of uni assignment help during busy semesters, I always keep an eye out for these international prizes to see which emerging writers break through. It makes you wonder how much the blind judging process changes the dynamic for unpublished authors compared to traditional submissions. Definitely a contest to keep watching.
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