Coinciding with Good Housekeeping’s centenary, the initiative was open to women writers aged 35 and under, living in the UK or Republic of Ireland, who have published at least one novel. With the pandemic disproportionately affecting work and pay for those under the age of 35, and for women in particular, Futures seeks to celebrate upcoming female talent and support them to build long and illustrious careers.

The Futures judges were chaired by novelist and Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kate Mosse; Good Housekeeping Editor-in-Chief, Gaby Huddart; Good Housekeeping Books Editor, Joanne Finney; TV and radio broadcaster, Naga Munchetty; and novelist, Sara Collins. From over 100 nominations put forward by publishers, they selected the following 10 authors:

• Jessica Andrews for ‘Saltwater’

• Natasha Brown for ‘Assembly’

• Candice Carty-Williams for ‘Queenie’

• Eliza Clark for ‘Boy Parts’

• Abigail Dean for ‘Girl A’

• Naoise Dolan for ‘Exciting Times’

• Stacey Halls for ‘Mrs England’

• Sairish Hussain for ‘The Family Tree’

• Daisy Johnson for ‘Sisters’

• Chibundu Onuzo for ‘Sankofa’

All ten shortlisted authors feature within Good Housekeeping’s February 2022 magazine (on sale from 30 December 2021) and across the brand’s digital channels. Good Housekeeping readers will now also have the chance to choose one overall winner via goodhousekeeping.com/uk/womens-prize-futures, to be announced in the December 2022 issue.

Gaby Huddart, Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping said:

“The Women's Prize for Fiction and Good Housekeeping Futures aims to shine a light on the leading younger voices of fiction for the future. Good Housekeeping has always been committed to celebrating women of all ages and backgrounds, and with 2022 marking our centenary, we wanted to celebrate our landmark birthday with a number of schemes and events that stay true to our heritage but also look forward to the future. With the past couple of years being particularly challenging for younger women starting out in their careers, we hope the Futures initiative will highlight some of the most talented young writers and bring them to a wider audience.”