New Writing North Newsletter January 2014

I thought my followers would be interested in seeing the latest New Writing North newsletter:

10 January 2014

One week left to enter the Northern Writers’ Awards   Since October, writers from across the North of England have been sending in applications in the hope that their manuscript will be the one to bag a share of the £40,000 prize pot. Now there’s only one week left to throw your authorial hat into the ring, with the final deadline on 17 January. So why not enter? If you are a poet, a young person between 12-18, a woman over 43 writing her first book, or just in need of some time to prove you have the ‘write’ stuff, www.northernwritersawards.com is open to you. All you need is 3,000-5,000 words of a work in progress (1,000 for an Arvon residency, 2,000 for a Cuckoo Young Writers Award, or up to 30 poems) and an address in the greater North. The support that winning writers receive from the Northern Writers’ Awards includes cash awards alongside mentoring, editorial feedback, and support and help with professional development within the writing industry. Judges for the 2013 awards are poet and writer Jean Sprackland, whose collection Tilt won the Costa Poetry Award in 2008; Chris Mullin, author, former Labour MP for Sunderland South and judge for the 2011 Man Booker prize; and Observer journalist and author Elizabeth Day (Scissors Paper Stone and Home Fires), who will be judging the newly introduced Cuckoo Young Writers Award. Know a young person who wants to love reading or writing? The Matthew Hale Award is aimed at young people who show talent but who have little opportunity to pursue their interest in writing. Open to 12-18 year-olds, the award consists of a bespoke package of support created by New Writing North. This is the one award entrants aren’t expected to do for themselves, with nominations requested from parents, teachers or other adults. If you know a talented young person who is interested in writing in any form or genre, then please nominate them at www.northernwritersawards.com/apply-the-matthew-hale-award-details-60.html. Cuckoo Young Writers Award Or if you are a young person that loves writing, then why not enter the Cuckoo Young Writers Award. Expanding on the ground-breaking work New Writing North does through our Cuckoo Young Writers programme, the Cuckoo Young Writers Award offers a prize worth £500 to a promising young writer (aged between 14-18) from the North of England, writing poetry, prose or creative non-fiction. To enter, see www.northernwritersawards.com/apply-the-cuckoo-young-writers-award-details-58.html. For more information about the criteria for entry and on how to apply, see www.northernwritersawards.com. The deadline for entries is Friday 17 January 2014.