Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is recognized as an author introduced by The Chicken House, a publishing company specializing in children's fiction. This imprint was established in 2000 and later acquired by Scholastic Corporation in 2005. The Chicken House has a history of launching new authors into the literary world, and Hargrave is listed among them. The publishing house is also known for its annual children's fiction competition, co-launched with The Times newspaper in 2008. This competition offers aspiring writers, who are unpublished and unagented, the chance to win a publishing contract for their full manuscripts, targeting readers aged 7 to 18. Prizes have included significant monetary values and publishing deals, with additional awards introduced over the years to celebrate milestones like the competition's tenth anniversary.

The Chicken House is a children's fiction publisher that operates as an imprint under the ownership of Scholastic Corporation. It was founded in the year 2000 by Barry Cunningham and Rachel Hickman. The company was subsequently purchased by Scholastic in 2005. Throughout its existence, The Chicken House has played a role in introducing a number of authors who have gone on to achieve success. Kiran Millwood Hargrave is noted as one of these authors, having been brought to prominence through the publisher. The company also holds the distinction of being the UK publisher for the widely successful "The Maze Runner" series.

In 2008, The Chicken House collaborated with The Times newspaper to establish an annual competition focused on children's fiction. This initiative is designed to discover and support emerging writing talent by inviting submissions of complete manuscripts from authors who are both unpublished and unagented. The target audience for the works is readers aged between 7 and 18 years old. The primary award for the competition is a publishing contract, accompanied by a financial prize of £10,000. To commemorate the competition's tenth anniversary in 2019, a second prize was introduced, offering a publishing contract valued at £7,500 for the selection recognized as the Chairman's Choice.