Announcing the 2026 Kidlit Chuckle Challenge WINNERS!

This was our third year hosting the Kidlit Chuckle Challenge, and we were blown away by the immense support from Kidlit authors, agents, and editors. We are so proud to be able to offer FORTY-ONE amazing prizes to this year's winners! These prizes include signed books, Ask-Me-Anything calls, critiques, access to resources, webinars, coaching, tickets to virtual events, and more. The willingness of the kidlit community to give back and support aspiring authors is unparalleled, and we are so grateful to our prize sponsors for their help in making the Kidlit Chuckle Challenge possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We also want to thank each and every one of our participants for making us giggle, LOL, and belly laugh! Each entry was unique and creative, and we enjoyed all the wordplay, shenanigans, surprise endings, puns, sarcasm, and clever visuals you came up with. With over 160 entries, narrowing down these stories to 41 overall winners was difficult enough, let alone deciding which entries to include in the Chuckle Challenge Top Ten. Whether humor is your "thing" or you took a huge step outside your comfort zone, each of you wrote, polished, and submitted something you created for children, and that in itself is a well-earned prize!

Without further delay, here are the Ha-norable Mentions and Winners of the 2026 Kidlit Chuckle Challenge!

HA-norable Mentions

There were many entries the judges felt were clever, silly, creative, and oh-so-close to the winner's circle. Our honorable mentions are listed below, in no particular order. Hats off to you, HM's, and grab yourselves a badge!

Erin Zampaglione, The Haunting of Sundae Butte

Annie Lawn, Oh, Chute!

Jose Cruz, Thundercrack!

Shannon Doran, Boo-Nanas

Amanda Paniagua, The Chilling Tale of Petey the Popsicle

Bethany Friend, Tilly's Never-Ending Quest

Joanna Szeto, Kevin's Fairy Godfather

Ann Muder, Ghost Banana Strikes Back

Jenn Ferna Hall, One Scoop.

Joy Dickinson, Beatrix Potter and the Tea Party Toads

Lauren Henry, The Never Ending Hole

Jacinta Patterson, Blanca Banana

Sarah Meade, Roberta's Slob Problem

Kate Sears, Catsup, Catnip, and Catastrophes, Oh My!

Carol Macpherson, Revenge of the Ghost Banana

Cynthia Jean Leavitt, I Am a Bob

Jenn Gaulding, Potty-Training Day 1: Down the Drain

Sheri Bentley, Tammy the Toilet’s Potty Mouth

Jessica Coupé, Ghost Banana and the Sticky Situation

Greg Beatty, Roller Derby Catastrophe

Chuckle Challenge Champions

In no particular order, these writers conquered the chuckle challenge! Congratulations to our champions, and enjoy your beautiful badge!

Laura Wippell, Banana Drama Karma

Vanessa Ireson, This is Bananas

Heidi McFadzean, Fantastic Footwear Fairy Fail

Lori Knutsen, Lady Clementine and the Fart Thunderstorm

Laura Cooper, The Best Home Upgrade

Alicia Meyers, Boo-Nana Jammer

Martha Arendt, The Fairy Godfather farter

Danielle Maris Lacob, Cat & Dog: An Ap-peel-ing Mystery

Linda Proctor, Breaking Wind News

Danielle Anderson, The Catastrophic Babysitter

Kaila, From Gassy to Classy

Sara Vollbrecht, A Squeaky Situation

Colleen Bays, BA-NA-NAP

Stephanie Flom, Fairy Godfather at Your Service

Kelsey Mango, Captain CATastrophe

Liz Wilder, A Catastrophic Chantey

Kim Collazo, Toad's Super Squeaky Sneakers

Lisa Davis, First Day Catastrophe

Ashley Sierra, Bart Can’t Hold It In

Robynn Hyde, BREAKING NEWS: Fart Thunderstorm Plagues Middelfart

Jen Stam, Ghost Banana Saves the Tooty Poodle

Alex Waldo, A Swashbuckling Tale: Broccoli Cove and its Precious Ruby

Cristina Restrepo-Harner, The Fairy Godfather and the Hot Lava Llamas

Emily Croke, The Pit and the Packrat

Mary Ann O'Rourke, Puff's Big Stink

Judy Pariser Scharf, Flubbing Floyd, the Fairy Godfather

Marie Barnett, How Captain Catastrophe Lost His Backyard

Jessica Russo, Hearts All A Clutter

Russell Wolff, Tammy’s First Day of School is Going to Stink

Jan Campana, Wartie Toad

Sherry Dubis, Hot Lava Champion

Chuckle Challenge TOP TEN!

These entries stood out among the winners as stories that spoke to each judge's tastes in some way. They were polished, creative, and overflowing with laughs. Congratulations to our Top Ten, and we hope your badge has you feeling tickled pink!

Abby Wooldridge, Silent but Deadly

Anna Marie Evans, Ghost Banana’s Phone Call to Corporate Headquarters (Audio Transcript)

Katie Custis, Revenge of the Ghost Banana

Lauri Meyers, Tami's Toilet Training

Dori Sears, The Toad-ally Tubular Baking Show

Helen Hooper, The Terrible Tale of Tammy McPlop

Jacqueline Miller, If Cinderella Had a Fairy Godfather

Jessica Jenson, Booo-nana!

Megan McNamara, Sneakerella

Tracie Renee, Ghost Banana: Agent of Chaos?

PRIZES!

This year, our Top Ten champions will have first dibs on our list of prizes. Once notified, those winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize. After the 24-hour Top Ten window has passed, we will email the remaining winners the link to claim their prize. Prizes are first come, first served and are claimed via Sign Up Genius.

All champions included on this list should watch for an email from us on Sunday, September 20. That email will include time-sensitive next steps for claiming a prize.

Thank you again to all our participants and prize sponsors for another wonderful Chuckle Challenge! We'll see you again next year!

Signed,

Julie, April, Kris, and Bri