The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist."^[1] The award is shared by both the author and their editor, which The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature noted is unusual for literary awards.^[2]

Wendy Boase, Editorial Director of Walker Books, and Henrietta Branford worked together to produce a great number of books. Both Boase and Branford died in 1999 of cancer. The Branford Boase Award was created to celebrate and commemorate their names and memories and to encourage new talent in writing, which they worked for. The awards were a joint idea by Julia Eccleshare and Anne Marley who both had jobs to do with books.^[3] The Branford Boase Award runs alongside the Henrietta Branford Writing Competition for young writers (under 19).^[3]

Winners receive a hand-crafted box with the Branford Boase Award logo and a cheque for £1,000. The prize and the official website are currently sponsored by the best-selling children's writer Jacqueline Wilson.^[4] The award is given to both the author and their editor, "in recognition of the editor’s role in bringing a debut author to market."^[2]

The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature has written that the award's "success in talent-spotting has been impressive, consistently recognising debut works by writers who subsequently go on to achieve great things—among them Marcus Sedgwick, Mal Peet, Meg Rosoff, B. R. Collins, Frances Hardinge, Sally Prue, Kevin Brooks and Siobhan Dowd."^[2]

In 2018 judges for the competition criticized the amount of family dramas nominated for the award, stating that it was formulaic and showed a lack of diversity.^[5] Judge Philip Womack stated that at least third of the books fell into this category and that they all had a “very similar narrative: there’s an ill child at home, who notices something odd, and is probably imagining it, but not telling the reader. They’re all in the first person, all in the present tense, all of a type".^[6] The Bookseller commented on the shortlist submissions for 2022, noting that there was a wider variety of authors and that they were more ambitious, which they felt resulted in "freshly told stories which reflect the writers’ understanding of the needs of today’s readers and the certainty of authors and publishers that those readers want to read outside their own experiences."^[1] Publishing Perspectives praised the 2022 shortlist for including a strong selection of books that appeal to both boys and girls.^[7]