She joined SCBWI in 2002 to learn how to get published. Her compulsive volunteering for SCBWI won her the Outstanding Contribution Award in 2011. In 2008, she won a place in the first Undiscovered Voices anthology competition which led to the publication of her debut novel Tall Story in 2010. Tall Story won the Crystal Kite Prize for Europe in 2011 and the National Book Award in Candy's native Philippines in 2012. It has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and has been shortlisted for 13 prizes. Her second novel, Shine, came out in September 2013.