The world’s first YA (Young Adult) literary prize has been launched by The Bookseller, and is open to all YA titles published in 2014 within Ireland and the UK.

Full details of the award can by found here and submission requirements can be found here. Submissions are now being accepted and the shortlist will be announced in December, with the winner being crowned in March 2015. The prize for the winner is £2,000.

The judging panel includes, so far, Melissa Cox (Children’s Buyer at Waterstones), Charlotte Eyre (Children’s Editor at The Bookseller), Kirsten Grant (Director of World Book Day), Rosianna Halsa Rojas (Vlogger) and Imogen Russell Williams (Children’s Journalist and YA Expert). It’s fair to say that women have been well represented on the panel thus far.

The award is being sponsored by Movellas, a very interesting story-sharing website, largely driven by fan fiction, that began in Denmark and appears to be growing extremely quickly. Their website is worth a look.

Interestingly, given the genre and the sponsor, the award is not open to either self-published authors or digital-only books. Books must have been published by a publishing house and must have appeared, or be set to appear, in print form within 2014.

Start your engines.