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Young Historian Awards 2024 – the winners
16th September 2024
Spirit of Normandy Trust Senior
Vivaan Davda – The Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai
Spirit of Normandy Trust Key Stage 3
Joshua Broadbent – Royal Grammar School, Guildford
Spirit of Normandy Trust Primary
Salisbury Cathedral School
Best School History Magazine [sponsored by the Mid-Trent and Mercia Branch]
St Alban’s School
Stockport...
Young Historian Awards 2024 – the winners
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Announcing the winners of the Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2021
The HA's writing competition for children ages 10-19 years
This writing competition seeks to encourage young people to express their creative sides alongside a strong understanding of a historical period, event or theme. This year despite restrictions, further lockdowns and uncertainty the number and quality of entries remained high, as well as being imaginative, exciting, well researched and a...
Announcing the winners of the Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2021
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Announcing the winners of the Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2022
The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-19 years
The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-19 years
After another year of high-quality fiction writing from our young people, we are pleased to announce that the winners in all of the categories are:
School Years 5-6:
Eloise Burt – The HMS Titanic. Old Priory Junior Academy, Plymouth
Hannah Tan...
Announcing the winners of the Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2022
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2024 – the winners
The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-15 years
Real history contains some of the most fanciful, exciting, worrying and incredible stories – learning about the past can open our eyes to how people have interacted with the world and each other for centuries. It is not surprising that alongside the real history most cultures and traditions have a...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2024 – the winners
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Young Quills 2019 shortlist
Young Quills Awards
Books, books, books – we’ve been surrounded by books in the HA office and what is more, we’ve been relying on other people to tell us about them. Yes, it’s been Young Quills reviewing time. From the start of this year pupils and students around the country have been delving...
Young Quills 2019 shortlist
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction Competition 2025
The Historical Association Historical Fiction Prize
Each year we are so impressed by the ever increasing number and standard of entries we receive around such a wide range of historical periods and settings. You can take a look at some of last year’s winning entries here.
Unleash the creativity of your pupils through the Write Your Own...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction Competition 2025
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Young Quills Awards 2019 – the winners
16th July 2019
Announcing this year’s winners of the HA's Young Quills Historical Fiction Competition for children and young adults:
6–10 years category: Janina Ramirez for Riddle of the Runes (Oxford University Press)
11–13 years category: Pippa Goodhart for The Great Sea Dragon Discovery (Catnip Publishers)
14 years and above category: Elizabeth Wein...
Young Quills Awards 2019 – the winners
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction 2020 – Winners Announced
HA competitions news
This has been one of our best years for entries ever!
With children stuck at home needing a little extra something to do we decided to extend the competition to accommodate home learning, as well as a new age category for pupils in years 10-13. We received well over a...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction 2020 – Winners Announced
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Young Quills 2024 – the longlist
HA annual awards for best historical fiction for young people
Each year, the Historical Association runs ‘Young Quills’, a competition for published historical fiction for children and young adults (14+). The Young Quills books for each year must be published for the first time in English in the year preceding the competition – so 2023 for this year’s selection.
Our...
Young Quills 2024 – the longlist
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Great Debate FAQs
The Great Debate
Below are some frequently asked questions about the Great Debate and the logistics of the heats.
If you need more information, you can get in touch with us directly at greatdebate@history.org.uk.
How does the debate work?
Each student will have five minutes to deliver their argument in response to the...
Great Debate FAQs
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2023 – the winners
The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-19 years
Being inspired by stories of the past to tell stories for today has kept people entertained for hundreds of years. Take a look at the shelves in any bookshop and there will be plenty of historical fiction. That is why we believe in starting them young at the HA, and...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2023 – the winners
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Young Quills Awards 2010 Reviews
Reviews
Reviews attached below
The Historical Association announces the shortlist for the 2010 Young Quills Award. This prize has two separate categories; Primary and Secondary, although some books obviously fit into both categories. Books are selected for the shortlist by children reviewers in each category.
In order to qualify for the...
Young Quills Awards 2010 Reviews
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Young Quills shortlist 2024
HA annual awards for best historical fiction for young people
It is here! We are delighted to announce the shortlist for 2024 Young Quills Awards for Historical Fiction. You can read reviews of all this year's entries here.
For readers aged 5-8 years
Title
Author
Publisher
Moving the Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion
Dave Eggers (illus Júlia Sardà)
Walker
The Most Famous Rhinoceros...
Young Quills shortlist 2024
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Young Quills 2011
Young Quills 2011
The Young Quills is a major award for children's historical fiction started by the Historical Association in 2009. The award aims to promote an enjoyment and awareness of history. We are convinced that reading historical fiction is one of the best ways to do this.
To be eligible for the...
Young Quills 2011
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Young Quills 2017 - Longlist Secondary
The Young Quills
Answer: The Historical Association’s The Young Quills selection
The Young Quills are awards for the best new historical fiction for children and young people.
The emphasis is on new – each year lots of books are published for children, many of them covering historical themes. However, are they any good...
Young Quills 2017 - Longlist Secondary
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Young Quills winners 2024
The Young Quills Awards for best historical fiction for young people
The Young Quills winners and highly commended have been announced for his year. This competition for historical fiction for children is a way of celebrating and recognising those authors who are continuing the long tradition of creative writing about the past for children.
All of the books are reviewed by...
Young Quills winners 2024
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The Young Quills Shortlist 2022
5th May 2022
The Historical Association is excited to announce the shortlist for the Young Quills, the annual awards for children’s and young adult historical fiction.
5-9 years
The Chessmen Thief, by Barbara Henderson, Pokey Hat Edgar and Adolf, by Phil Earle and Michael Wagg, OUP Oxford The Royal Rebel, by Bali Rai, Barrington...
The Young Quills Shortlist 2022
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Young Historian Awards 2025 – take part (Secondary prizes)
History competition for students
Researching, writing and presenting ideas about a historical theme or period is one of the best parts about studying history. We want young school and college aged students to get the bug for writing about history in an incisive, interesting and critical way.
That is why each year the Historical...
Young Historian Awards 2025 – take part (Secondary prizes)
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Young Quills winners 2022
The Young Quills Awards for best historical fiction for young people
We are delighted to announce the 2022 competition winners for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Awards for Historical Fiction for children and young adults:
Ages 5–9 years category:
Winner: The Chessmen Thief by Barbara Henderson, Pokey Hat, Cranachan PublishingHighly commended: The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr, Bloomsbury Publishing
Ages 10–13...
Young Quills winners 2022
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Young Quills winners 2020
The Young Quills Awards for best historical fiction
6-9 years category:
The Closest Thing to FlyingBy Gill Lewis, Oxford University Press
10-13 years category:
Our Castle by the SeaBy Lucy Strange, Chicken House
14 years + category:
The Stolen OnesBy Vanessa Curtis, Usborne Publishing
Highly commended:
6-9 years category:
Winter of the Wolves By Tony Bradman, Bloomsbury
10-13...
Young Quills winners 2020
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Great Debate Final 2025
14th April 2025
Winner:
Quinn Scott – Chesterton Community College, Cambridge
Runners up:
Anya Bensouiah – Kendrick School, Reading
Fred Bosley – The King’s School, Canterbury
Aimee Nelson – Bablake School, Coventry
Finalists:
Emily Tweddle, Earlston High School, Scottish Borders
Hannah Brearton, Upton Hall, Oxford
Rosie Thomson, The Maynard School, Exeter
Isabella Passarelli, Torquay Girls Grammar School,...
Great Debate Final 2025
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The Great Debate Final 2024
25th March 2024
Winner:
Emma Crow of Broxburn Academy, Broxburn, Scotland
Runners up:
Abigail Powers of The Ladies’ College, Guernsey
Erica Wright of William Farr School, Lincolnshire
Rachel McGarry of Shavington Academy, Crewe, Cheshire
Finalists
Sofia Ntege, North Oxfordshire Academy, Banbury
Harry Gray, Exeter School, Exeter
Rhea Cherrington, Bablake School, Coventry
Molly Grimshaw,...
The Great Debate Final 2024
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Young Quills Awards 2015
Multipage Article
The ‘Young Quills' Award for Historical Fiction recognises the powerful role that fiction can have for introducing, informing and exciting young people about historical events, characters and places.
The competition is for books that tell a story with a strong and accurate historical setting. There are two categories divided according...
Young Quills Awards 2015
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The Great Debate 2023: Speeches
Multipage Article
The 2023 Great Debate final was held on 25 March at the Vicars' Hall, Windsor Castle. The question for young people to address was:
“Why does history matter to me?”
Across the course of the day the judges and audience listened to talks on the personal experiences of finalists’ relatives in the...
The Great Debate 2023: Speeches
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The Great Debate 2020: speeches
Should we judge historical figures by the morals of today?
Many things have been different this year – especially things that involve people coming together physically in one setting. That was certainly the case for our Great Debate competition. Fortunately, all of the regional heats had taken place across the UK before the first lockdown came into effect last spring,...
The Great Debate 2020: speeches
