Who is judging Novel Beginnings?

Novel Beginnings submissions will go through several rounds of judging. First, submissions will be judged by a group of volunteers who will assess works for originality, literary merit, writing quality, and marketability.

From there, we will establish a longlist, then a final shortlist of up to 10 entries. A panel of bestselling authors, editors, and industry professionals will judge our shortlist.

Here’s a short introduction to each judge on the Novel Beginnings shortlist panel:

Novel Beginnings judges

Troy Onyango

As well as being a Novel Beginnings judge, Troy is also a judge for the International Booker Prize 2026. He is a London-based author and editor from Kisumu, who is the author of For What Are Butterflies Without Their Wings. Troy is the founder of Lolwe, a pan-African literary and arts magazine and the owner of Lolwe Books. He was also the winner of the inaugural Nyanza Annual Literary Festival Prize.

Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is a number one New York Times bestselling author. Described as the “Michelangelo of dirty talk” by Entertainment Weekly, Tessa has written several romantic fiction series and standalone novels. Her most popular books include the New York Times bestsellers It Happened One Summer, as well as Hook, Line, and Sinker, and Unfortunately Yours.

Alison Espach

Alison Espach is the number one New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People, which has sold over one million copies. The book was also awarded the Readers' Favorite Fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 and was named as one of the “100 Must-Read Books of 2024” by Time Magazine. Alison is also the author of Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, named a “Best Book of 2022” by Chicago Tribune and NPR, and The Adults, a New York Times Editor’s Choice.

Christine Pride

Christine Pride has more than 20 years of experience as a book editor at Big Five imprints, including Doubleday, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster. Christine is also the author of All the Men I’ve Loved Again, and the co-author of We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, and the **upcoming I Never Knew You at All.

Onyi Nwabineli

Onyi Nwabineli is a British novelist who is the author of Someday, Maybe, which was selected as a Good Morning America book club pick, a Country & Town House book club pick, and was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards. Onyi is also the author of Allow Me to Introduce Myself, which was selected for the Hay Festival, and the founder of the Black Pens writing retreat.

Eden McKenzie-Goddard

Eden McKenzie-Goddard is a UK-based writer and podcaster with Barbadian Jamaican roots. He has almost a decade of publishing industry experience and is the co-founder of the top 30 music and culture podcast, Don’t Alert the Stans. Eden’s debut novel, Smallie, will be published in 2026.

Kesia Lupo

Kesia Lupo is a commissioning editor at First Ink, the YA and crossover list at Macmillan Children’s Books. Kesia has more than a decade of experience in the publishing industry, and she is also the author of three YA novels, We Are Blood and Thunder, We Are Bound by Stars, and Let’s Play Murder.

Morwenna Loughman

Morwenna Loughman is a literary agent at Aevitas Creative Management. She was a commissioning editor at Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, where she worked with bestselling authors including Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Alessandra Ferreri

Alessandra Ferreri is the Head of Content at Wattpad, a leading global webnovel platform and one of the sponsors of Novel Beginnings.