EK BooksBooks with heart on issues that matter
Children's Author Certificate
The Future Author Scholarship
There are writers out there with exactly the book we want to publish, who are ready and willing to learn, grow, and succeed with the guidance of experienced publishers. We would like to be the ones who help you do it.
The Future Author Scholarship opens places on the Children's Author Certificate to writers whose work belongs on a list like ours, and who need a hand getting into the room.
Why we're doing this
The next EK Books author is out there already
They have the story. What they need is someone to teach them the rest.
Every year we read manuscripts that are close, where the only thing between that writer and a publishable book is a month of guidance and someone telling them the truth about their pages. Often they've been told for years that it's lovely, and nobody has told them what's missing.
We would rather not lose those books. So a number of places on each cohort are set aside for writers who are ready to be taught, and who are writing the kind of book we care about most. Scholarship students sit in the same workshops, get the same editorial reading, and take the same private call with a publisher. They are not guests. They are the cohort.
What a place is worth
This is not a discount on a video course
Almost everything in the Certificate is a person giving you their time.
- Three live workshops with an award-winning children's author, a brand strategist, and an EK Books publisher — where you ask your own questions and get a real answer.
- Your manuscript read closely and answered in writing by the people who assess submissions for a living. Not a checklist. Not a grade. What is working, what is missing, precisely why, and what to do about it.
- A month to revise, and a second reading afterwards. If it isn't there yet you aren't failed — you're told where it falls short and given another go.
- Ten concise chapters and a full set of templates, yours for life — pitches, cover letters, school visits, press kits.
- A private one-to-one meeting with an EK Books publisher on certification. One person, your book, where it goes next.
- Priority submission to EK Books for life. Not for this manuscript. For every one you ever write.
Who it's for
Two things we're looking for
The first
A book that belongs on our list
Children's books with heart, on issues that matter. Neurodiversity. Mental health. Belonging. Grief, difference, family, courage — handled in fresh, playful, powerful ways, with the child's agency front and centre, and never as a lesson wearing a story's clothes.
If that is your book, we want to hear from you.
The second
A writer ready to be taught
Ready to learn, to be edited, to revise, and to grow with the guidance of experienced publishers — and held back by circumstances rather than by appetite. This is not a competition for the best writer in the room, and it is not a prize.
No paperwork, no hardship form. Tell us where you are and what is possible for you, and we'll take you at your word.
What's available
Partial awards, and a very few full ones
Tell us which level of support you're asking for. Most of what we give goes to the middle of this range.
covered by us
covered by us
covered by us
rarely, please read below
About full scholarships
A place here is almost entirely hours of our people's time: three live sessions, a manuscript read closely and answered at length, a second reading after your revision, and a private call with a publisher. Those hours are finite, and a full award commits every one of them to a single writer. Full scholarships go to one or two people a cohort, in exceptional circumstances.
Partial awards are where the work happens. Nearly all of our support goes there, and a thoughtful application asking for 25%, 50% or 75% has a very good chance. Come as far towards us as you can, tell us how far that is, and make the case for the rest. We would rather stand behind six writers properly than carry one entirely.
Places on each cohort are strictly limited.
Between us
What a strong application looks like
We read every one of these ourselves.
This matters most
Show us you know our books
The applications that succeed almost always know our list. Name the titles of ours you've read. Tell us what you noticed about how they handle their subject, and where your book would sit beside them.
It takes an afternoon in a bookshop, and it tells us what no covering letter can: that you're serious about this publisher, not just about being published.
Be specific
Tell us about the actual book
What it's about, who it's for, and why it needs to exist now. A few plain sentences beat a polished pitch. If it's three spreads and an ending you can't crack, say that instead.
Be clear
Name the level you need
Say 25%, 50% or 75%, and why. An application that has done this thinking is far easier to say yes to than one that leaves it to us.
Be yourself
Write it like a letter
No form, no word count, nothing to format. Write the way you'd write to someone you hope will publish your book one day — which is what this is.
How to apply
Email EK Books' publisher
Send it to
With this exact subject line
Future Author Scholarship [Your Book Title]
Please use that subject line — it keeps these out of the general inbox.
Who you are
Where you are in the world, where you are as a writer, and what you're hoping this year looks like.
The book
What it is, who it's for, how far along it is, and why it matters to you. Don't attach the manuscript — just tell us about it.
Why EK Books
The titles of ours you've read, what you took from them, and where your book sits alongside them. This is the part that most often decides it.
The level of support you're seeking
25%, 50%, 75% — or, if your circumstances are exceptional, a full award and the reason why. Tell us what you can contribute yourself.
What it would make possible
A line or two. This one is for us as much as for you.
Applications are read as they arrive, and places awarded until the cohort is full.
The button fills in the subject line for you. Replace [Your Book Title] with your title.
A few questions
Before you write
Do I need a finished manuscript?
No. A draft, an idea with pages behind it, or a book you've been circling for years are all fine. You will need something to submit for feedback during the program.
Does applying affect my chances with EK Books?
No, in either direction. This is a separate conversation from submissions, and we keep it that way.
What if none of these levels work for me?
Write anyway and tell us what is possible. We'd rather have the conversation than have you talk yourself out of it.
Can I apply again next cohort?
Yes, and people do. If we can't help this time we'll say so, and a second application is welcome.
We are looking for the next EK Books author. If that's you, we'd like to be the ones who taught you, read you, and published you.
Not sure whether to apply? Write anyway at [email protected] and ask. EK Books always writes back.
See everything in the Children's Author Certificate →
The Future Author Scholarship · EK Books · Children's Publishing Academy