Each year the Historical Association runs the Young Quills, a competition for published historical fiction for children and young adults. The Young Quills books for each year must be published for the first time in English in the year preceding the competition. Divided by age suitability, the books are given to schools on the condition that the children and young people there write a review of the book following our criteria. Those reviews are used as the basis for us to create the shortlist from which the winners are selected. 

Below are all the winning and highly commended books and authors in each age category since the competition started in 2011.

2025 winners

For readers aged 5-8 years

• Winner: Blitz: One Family’s War by Martin Impey
• Highly Commended: King Alfred and the Ice Coffin by Kevin Crossley-Holland (illus. Chris Riddell)

For 8-11 years

• Winner: Birdie by P. Rose
• Highly Commended: The Boy, the Witch and the Queen of Scots by Barbara Henderson
• Highly Commended: Roman Boy by Tony Bradman

For 11-13 years

• Winner: Shadow Creatures by Chris Vick
• Highly Commended: The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

For 14 and above

• Winner: Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan
• Highly Commended: Cobalt by Sue Klauber

2024 winners

For ages 5-8 years

• Winner: The Most Famous Rhinoceros by Dianne Hofmeyr, illus. Simona Mulazzani (Otter-Barry Books)
• Highly Commended: Moving the Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion by Dave Eggers, illus. Júlia Sardà (Walker)

For 8-11 years

• Winner: Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler (Simon & Schuster)
• Highly Commended: Vita The Gladiator by Ally Sherrick (Chicken House)

For 11-13 years

• Winner: Where the River Takes Us by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
• Highly Commended: The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel - Victoria Princewill (Scholastic)

For 14+

• Winner: The Wolf Girl, the Greeks and the Gods by Tom Holland, illus. Jason Cockcroft (Walker)
• Highly Commended: The Wall Between Us by Dan Smith (Chicken House)

2023 winners

For young readers

• Winner: Bruno and Frida by Tony Bradman (Barrington Stoke)
• Highly Commended: Accidental Stowaway by Judith Eagle (Faber)

For intermediate readers

• Winner: Resist by Tom Palmer (Barrington Stoke)
• Highly Commended: When the War Came Home by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
• Highly Commended: Dan Smith for Nisha’s War (Chicken House)

For 14 years+ (young adult)

• Winner: Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg (Scholastic)
• Highly Commended: As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (Bloomsbury)

2022 winners

For 5–9 years

• Winner: The Chessmen Thief by Barbara Henderson, Pokey Hat, Cranachan Publishing
• Highly commended: The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr, Bloomsbury Publishing

For 10–13 years

• Winner: The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay, Macmillan Children’s books
• Highly Commended: Torn Apart by Swapna Haddow, Scholastic

For 14+ years

• Winner: We Played With Fire by Catherine Barter, Andersen Press
• Highly commended: A Rebel in Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather, Scholastic Focus

2021 winners

For 5–9 years

• Winner: The Siege of Caerlaverock by Barbara Henderson, Pokey Hat
• Highly commended: Daisy and the Unknown Warrior by Tony Bradman, Barrington Stoke

Fpr 10–13 years

• Winner: After the War: From Auschwitz to Ambleside by Tom Palmer, Barrington Stoke
• Highly commended: Mohinder’s War by Bali Rai, Bloomsbury Education

For 14+/young adult

• Winner: Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle, Anderson Press
• Highly commended: I, Ada by Julia Gray, Anderson Press

In addition to these winners the judges are keen to recommend Children of the Benin Kingdom by Dinah Orji (Dinosaur books) and The White Phoenix by Catherine Randall (Book Guild Publishing Ltd) as strong books that would enhance learning in school.

2020 winners

For 6-9 years

• Winner: The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis, Oxford University Press
• Highly commended: Winter of the Wolves by Tony Bradman, Bloomsbury

For 10-13 years

• Winner: Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange, Chicken House
• Highly commended: The Diver’s Daughter – A Tudor Story by Patrice Lawrence, Scholastic

For 14 and above

• Winner: The Stolen Ones by Vanessa Curtis, Usborne Publishing
• Highly commended: The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys, Penguin

2019 winners

• For 6–10 years: Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez (Oxford University Press)
• For 11–13 years: The Great Sea Dragon Discovery by Pippa Goodhart (Catnip Publishers)
• For 14 and above: Firebird by Elizabeth Wein (Barrington Stoke)

2018 winners

• For 7–9 years: Anglo Saxon Boy by Tony Bradman (Walker Books)
• For 10–13 years: The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Chicken House)
• For 14 to young adult: Beyond the Wall by Tanya Landman (Walker Books)

2017 winners

• For under-12s: Black Powder by Ally Sherrick (Chicken House books)
• For 12 and over: The Hypnotist by Laurence Anholt (Corgi Childrens)

2016 winners

• For younger readers/early years: Flo of the Somme by Hilary Robinson and illustrated by Martin Impey (Strauss House Productions, 2015)
• For primary school aged readers: Whistling in the Dark by Shirley Hughes (Walker Books, 2015)
• For secondary age readers: The Earth is Singing by Vanessa Curtis (Usborne, 2015)

2015 winners

• For primary: Billy's Blitz by Barbara Mitchelhill (Anderson press)
• For secondary: Poppy by Mary Hooper (Bloomsbury)

2013 winners

• For under-10s: Song Hunter by Sally Prue, OUP Oxford
• For 12+: Sawbones by Catherine Johnson, Walker
• For 9–13: The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean, Usborne Publishing Ltd

2012 winners

• For under-12s (primary): Titanic, Death on the Water by Tom and Tony Bradman, A & C Black Publishers Ltd
• For 12+ (secondary): Eleven Eleven by Paul Dowswell, Publishers Bloomsbury Children's Books

2011 winners

• For under-12s (primary): The Sacred Scarab by Gill Harvey (Bloomsbury)
• For 12+ (secondary): Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (Doubleday)