We are delighted to announce our panel of judges for Voices 2025, the national creative writing competition for care-experienced children and young people, sponsored by UK management consultancy Cadence Innova.
The panel includes acclaimed children’s authors, writers and other leading experts in their field, many of whom have personal experience of the care system.
The Voices 2025 judges are:
- Baroness Lola Young – Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey became one of the first Black Women members of the House of Lords in 2004 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. Raised in foster care in London, Baroness Young’s memoir 8 Weeks: Looking Back, Moving Forwards, Defying the Odds was published in 2024
- Patrice Lawrence – Patrice Lawrence is a writer for children and young people. She has won a number of awards including the Bookseller YA Prize, the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, the Jhalak Prize for Children and Young People and the Little Rebels Children’s Award. She is the Booktrust Writer-In-Residence until February 2025, with a focus on children facing challenging circumstances
- EL Norry – EL Norry is a fiction and non-fiction MG/YA author. She has also written two episodes for EastEnders. She balances writing with a part-time job at an FE college working in Wellbeing and Safeguarding. Her books include a wide variety of styles and genres, and her new book, Runaways,is out July 2025 with Bloomsbury
- Kirsty Capes – Kirsty Capes is a care-experienced author who works in marketing. She holds a PhD from Brunel University London; her thesis investigates representations of the care experience in contemporary British fiction. Her first novel, Careless, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize 2022
- Chris Wild – Chris Wild is an author, keynote speaker and avid campaigner for young people in care. He has appeared across numerous media channels such as the BBC , Channel 4 and ITV
- Jordan Morgan – Jordan Morgan is the Director of Programmes at Forward Thinking, a London-based conflict resolution NGO. He has related expertise in frontline mediation, negotiation, and the facilitation of national political and community dialogue processes. He is a trustee of the Drive Forward Foundation (DFF) where he founded the DFF Policy Forum, a national award-winning group which aims to empower young people from care to use their experiences to advocate for political and legislative change to the British care system
- Callen Martin – Callen Martin graduated in 2019 from Bath Spa University’s MA in Writing for Young People, becoming the first care leaver in the history of East Sussex to study at post-graduate level. He is now a literary agent, representing authors that write books for children and young adults and, in his spare time, is writing his own children’s books too
- Deborah Maclaren – Deborah Maclaren is the Chief Executive of LoveReading and LoveReading4Kids, whose mission is to share book love and get more people reading. With her school governor hat on she understands the importance of reading for pleasure, and LoveReading4Kids supports parents, carers and schools across the UK to engender a love of reading in their children
Alongside a group of young judges who were finalists in previous years of the competition, the panel will be judging entries from children and young people aged 4-25, on the theme of ‘My Voice’. Entries can be in any written form, audio or video format and include poems, short stories, raps, songs and newspaper articles and must be 500 words or under.
Brigid Robinson, Managing Director of Coram Voice, said:
“We are delighted to announce our Voices 2025 judges who bring a wealth of creativity and experience to the competition, and will be incredibly inspiring for all our young writers taking part this year.
“The Voices competition is the only dedicated competition for care-experienced young people, offering them the chance to write or create a piece on what matters to them most, to be heard, and to celebrate their voices. We urge children and young people to get their entries in before the deadline for the chance to have their work read by our judges and to meet them in person at our awards ceremony!”
Author EL Norry, who is returning to judge Voices for the third time, said:
“I’m care-experienced and believe that the work Coram Voice do to support and encourage young people is invaluable. I love celebrating the creative expression and voices of care-experienced young people because often in our society their voices can be overlooked. I’m looking forward to the wonderful award ceremony and excited to discover new creatives of the future!”
The deadline for entries for this year’s competition is 23 March 2025. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in May 2025.