2025 Phoenix Award Shortlist

Jace Parker – Resilience Expert, Crime Scene Investigator, and Author of Thrive in Chaos Jace Parker is a resilience expert, seasoned crime scene investigator, and the author of Thrive in Chaos – a brutally honest guide to building unshakeable mental toughness. Drawing on over 20 years of experience

Caroline Lavoie is a French-Canadian writer of YA speculative fiction. She grew up in Quebec and flew west at the age of twenty with one lucky feather and three words of English in her backpack. She now spends her days on the homestead, growing food and improbable tales from seed. In recent years

Miranda Boyer is an award-winning author, publisher, and lifelong storyteller whose work explores themes of identity, resilience, and magic in the face of adversity. She is best known for her Fountain of Youth series, a genre-bending YA fantasy saga that weaves together reincarnation, found family

Originally from Hungary, I graduated from the University of Leeds with a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Human Resource Management, and I still live in the city with my partner. In my day job, I’m an HR professional. I love the challenges and the variety I experience through my work, but writing is

Hi my name is Chelsey Byron, Im 35 and live in Kent with two children and my partner. I started writing the Purgatory trilogy last year, writing has always been a passion of mine and the Purgatory trilogy has been created through my own life experiences and passion to make a change by raising

Born and raised in China, Tong Ge moved to Canada in the late 1980s as an international student. Since 2012, her poetry, prose, and short stories have appeared in both English and Chinese publications across North America, England, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Her debut novel, “The House Filler,” was

Ravi Bodalia is a resident doctor and writing content-creator with over three million views across YouTube and TikTok. He has previously been a finalist in the Page Turner Awards for the Book Adaptation Needed category, and he has been longlisted in the Jericho Writers 500 Words Competition. His

I was born in Turkey in 1973. In 1999, I came to England to learn English. I then became a primary school teacher and for 10 years I worked as a class teacher, ICT coordinator and music teacher in inner-city schools across London. In 2014, I moved to work in higher education and started to work as a

Steve conveys perspectives and emotions in poems and songs. His draft memoir, Galvanized, tells how he overcame timidity as an air cavalry officer in the Vietnam War. A tuxedo cat from a shelter encourages him from a perch over his PC keyboard. Steve assists disabled veterans in getting government

Emmanuel Arriaga is a sci-fi author trapped in the body of a Product Manager. With a 14+ year background in engineering, cybersecurity, and infrastructure, Emmanuel received education from Pennsylvania State University and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He’s held roles building products for

10-time international award-winning author, Diana Webb, has a Juris Doctorate in Law and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. An educator, tutor, motivational speaker, and freelance writer, Diana pens literary pieces sharing intense thought-provoking queries and realities of life to live the most

Virginia Betts is an independent author, performance poet, actor and freelance tutor from Ipswich, Suffolk in the UK. She has had 4 books published by independent presses: The Camera Obscure (Gothic and supernatural stories); two poetry collections: Tourist to the Sun and That Little Voice; and her

Stevie Turner is a British author of Romantic Suspense, Humour, Paranormal, and Women’s Fiction (family dramas). She won an inter-schools' essay competition at the age of 11, and this gave her encouragement to write further. She has now written 15 novels, 2 screenplays, 6 novellas, 1 memoir, and 18