Alice Corrie Award 2025 - the winners!
The Alice Corrie Award logo and Alice with her book, Fabulous Fifi, illustrated by Ipek Konak
Orange Beak is about community. We strive to share knowledge and cultivate talent, to support and enable creativity.
When we set up the Alice Corrie Award it was our way of paying tribute to our colleague and friend and to remember the positivity and creative energy she brought to Orange Beak while continuing her work encouraging and connecting with people through their writing. We wanted to honour her and keep her close.
The stories we received did just that. Alice would have loved reading them and - like us - have been overwhelmed by the response and the quality of submissions.
From life and death to magic and mayhem, the everyday to the surreal, these stories assured us that there are a lot of brilliant picture book writers out there.
In the final selection, it came down to the stories that stayed with us, those that we agreed lingered long after reading. Had we the wherewithal, we would have responded to each and every writer but we want all those who submitted a story to know that they have more than lived up to the aspirations of the award.
We miss Alice every day but these stories represent everything that we adored about working with and knowing her. They have cheered us and made us appreciate how much we love what we do at Orange Beak and how much we delight in children’s picture books!
Thank you to all of you who sent fantastic stories and thank you to the fabulous Alice for inspiring us every day.
We could not have done this without the blessing and support of Alice’s family who have generously donated the prize money of £400. Alongside this has been the anonymous donation of £200. Thank you so much for your generous support.
Orange Beak are giving a substantial amount of the entry money to Child Bereavement UK.
This years winners of the Alice Corrie Award are:
Laura Howard for The Fairy Tailor
Vicky Gatehouse for The Memory Stick
They each receive a 30 minute chat with one of the judges plus £300.
The judges Helen Mackenzie Smith, Picture Books Publisher, Simon & Schuster, UK and Sarah Pakenham, Publisher, Scallywag Press were hugely impressed by the overall standard of the writing and after much deliberation chose these two worthy recipients.
About Laura:
By day I’m a creative copywriter, but by night (or rather, early morning), I write children’s stories. I began seven years ago and since then some of my stories have been longlisted and shortlisted in competitions, including the Searchlight Awards, Writing Magazine’s Children’s Book Prize, and the Write Mentor Children’s Book Awards.
“I'm over the moon to be one of the winners of the Alice Corrie Award – it means a lot – especially when it's in memory of someone so special. A big thank you to Alice’s family, Orange Beak and the judges for the amazing opportunity.” Laura Howard, London
About Vicky:
Vicky Gatehouse is a children’s writer and award-winning poet who happens to be a zoologist. She loves writing about nature and wonderfully quirky creatures. A graduate of the Manchester Writing School and the Golden Egg Academy, Vicky came second place in the 2024 Write Mentor Picture Book Prize, was shortlisted in the Searchlight Awards and has just been Highly Commended for ‘Books that Help’.
Vicky’s poems feature in Tyger Tyger, The Toy, Little Thoughts Press, Northen Gravy and Pan Macmillan anthologies.
Vicky enjoys school-visits as a STEM Ambassador, volunteers as a hedgerow planter and performs regularly at literary festivals and events.
“It’s such an honour be one of the winners of this important award, which pays tribute to the talented and fabulous Alice Corrie. I was thrilled to hear that my text delighted the judges and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to discuss my manuscript with an Industry Professional.” Vicky Gatehouse, West Yorkshire