Book Review Competition 2026

Recently, our popular review blog, Everybody’s Reviewing, passed one and a half million readers. To celebrate this milestone, Everybody’s Reviewing and the Centre for New Writing are running a book review competition. 

The competition is open to all current undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Leicester. First prize is £50 in Amazon gift vouchers. Second prize is £25 in vouchers. All entries will be considered for publication on the website. 

All you have to do is write a short book review (200-400 words) of a book you’ve read recently and enjoyed. The review should be positive overall, so choose a book you've enjoyed! The book doesn’t have to be new: it can be any work of fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry from any time, by any author. Please include a short (2-line) biography of yourself at the end of the review. 

Please send your entries (no more than one per student) to this email address: everybodysreviewing@gmail.com. You can also use the same email address for any queries you have about the competition. There is no entry fee. 

The deadline for submissions is midday on Wednesday 10 June 2026.

Competition rules are as follows:

1. Reviews should be between 200 and 400 words. All work must be in English. 
2. All entries must be submitted via email to everybodysreviewing@gmail.com.
3. All entries will be considered for publication on the Everybody's Reviewing website. 
4. Entries should not have been previously published.
5. The competition is open to all current undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Leicester up till the competition's final submission date.
6. Copyright remains with the author. Entrants give permission to have their work placed on the Everybody’s Reviewing website for an indefinite period.
7. Entries that do not comply with the rules will be disqualified.
8. Decisions of the judge(s) are final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding those decisions.

Good luck! We'll look forward to reading your reviews. 

Everybody's Reviewing Passes 100,000 views

Everybody's Reviewing, the review blog run by the Centre for New Writing at the University of Leicester, has just passed 100,000 views! Its huge readership includes people from the East Midlands region, the UK and internationally. 

The site was set up in 2014, in conjunction with Everybody's Reading Festival in Leicester, aiming to provide a space for readers to share their enthusiasms. It's a democratic review website, where readers of all ages and experience can share positive reviews of books or events they have enjoyed. 

Since 2014, it has gone from strength to strength. It has published 100s of reviews.  It has provided a forum for 100s of new and experienced reviewers to publish their reviews. It has helped showcase commercially-published, independently-published and self-published books, as well as exhibitions and performances, by new, up-and-coming and established writers. There have been numerous guest editors, gaining work experience in editing and website curation.  

If you'd like to get involved with Everybody's Reviewing, you can read more about it, and find contact details here. 

Congratulations to all - readers, reviewers, authors, editors alike - on reaching this major landmark!