Forget the fragile financial sector, our real yet invisible export is our world-beating imagination. It beams across the bestseller charts from Moscow to Melbourne, from J.K.Rowling to Philip Pullman.

Now in its second year, The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition once again shows Britain's remarkable capacity to produce interesting and engaging children's fiction. As publisher of the Chicken House, I am on the judging panel. Our adventurous writing contest invites the really talented undiscovered to step forward - no agents, no previously published authors. And this year, hundreds of writers have once more submitted their entries, anxious to join - in children's books - the one sparkling growth area of the publishing industry. Perhaps one of them will enjoy that life-transforming moment when they hold their book in their hands - and look forward to a bestseller with 18 foreign editions, such as Emily Diamand with Reavers' Ransom, last year's winner.

Choosing a shortlist worthy of the judges' consideration is hard - but not impossible. This year I wrestled with a final choice from amazingly diverse would-be authors and even more wide-ranging subjects, from planet colonisation to forced marriage and the English Civil War.

But in the end it's about how much I believe in the world that the writer creates, no matter how bizarre; how strongly I feel the children's experience shines from inside the book; and how skilfully I'm drawn to sharing the emotions and choices the characters make. Then there's the trick-ier judgment, the level of skill the writer shows. Do the characters treat each other as real people, even if they have two heads?

Well, a large number from this year's entry had some of these elements, but only five moved me to react as I did when I first read Harry Potter, or Inkheart, or Reavers' Ransom. Now I want to know what the other judges think. Can't wait!

The winner of The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2009 will be announced on March 7

Reavers' Ransom by Emily Diamand is available in a special numbered and signed hardback edition from Books First or Waterstone's

Threads by Sophia Bennett
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Funny, serious and absorbing. The lives of a group of friends who love fashion and style become entwined with a young, brilliantly talented African refugee with a painful background.

Marshes of Magdalen by Victoria Suzuki
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A colony on another planet runs into trouble from the survivors of the previous failed expedition and the intelligent life forms already there. Physically gripping and exciting, with very real teenagers at its heart.

The Psychic Squad by Shar Ros-Elman
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Children with psychic abilities are singled out for special training. The question of whether they are to be used for good or evil is mixed in with their relationships to each other.

Charlie Squires Goes Elsewhere by Justine Windsor
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Amusing fantasy romp for younger readers. A young boy follows his mother through a painting to an alternative world of mild peril, but strong adventures.

Chasing the River by Anne Giraud
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A beautifully written African odyssey. A young refugee from a massacre travels through a devastatingly beautiful landscape and battles with danger, betrayal and impoverishment. Hope, resourcefulness and courage beat in his breast.