Frances Lincoln Limited, the award-winning publisher, and Seven Stories, The Centre for Children's Books, innovative cultural centre for children's literature,  have created an award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945 - 2001).

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is for a manuscript that celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author.

The purpose of the Award is to:

• Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today.
• Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently under-represented.
• Recognise that as children's books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance.
• Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication.

Frances Lincoln Limited was founded by Frances Lincoln in 1977. In 1983 the company started to publish illustrated books for children. Since then it has won many awards and prizes with both fiction and non-fiction children's books. Bestselling titles include Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman with illustrations by Caroline Binch, and We are Britain by Benjamin Zephaniah with photographs by Prodeepta Das.

Frances Lincoln died, aged 55, in February 2001. She was described by Julia Eccleshare  in the TES as, 'the publisher best known for pioneering multicultural books for children.' Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, commented that, 'Publishing has lost a brave and innovative person who has left behind her, much too soon, a thriving legacy .'

Full details and entry form