Young Northern Writers’ Awards
Our Young Writers’ Awards are presented as part of the Northern Writers’ Awards. They recognise and support young writers based in the North of England.
Young Northern Writers’ Awards
This award is open to young writers aged 11-18 in the North of England. Young writers can submit creative work in any form including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap.
There are two age categories, 11-14 and 15-18. Entrants must be 18 years or under when the awards close. The winner in each category will receive prize money of £150. Up to two writers may also be highly commended across the age categories.
The Young Northern Writers’ Awards are open for entries until 6 February 2025.
Matthew Hale Award
The Matthew Hale Award is open to young writers who show promise but have had limited opportunities to pursue their talent. This could be due to a number of factors, including physical or mental ill-health, family circumstances, financial circumstances, lack of access to cultural opportunities or any other reasons.
This award is for a young person aged 11-18 based in the North of England. Entrants must be 18 years or under when the awards close. Young writers can submit creative work in any form including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap.
There is one award winner each year. The award consists of a package of support created by New Writing North and is worth £500. The package will be tailored to the specific interests and needs of the winner, but could include anything from one-on-one mentoring with a professional writer, enrolment on a course, books, theatre tickets or a pass to a literature festival.
This award is judged by the family of Matthew Hale and New Writing North.
The Matthew Hale Award is open for entries until 6 February 2025.
Eva Ibbotson Award
The Eva Ibbotson Award is open to young writers aged 11-15 who are writing in English as a second language.
This award is for a young person aged 11-15 based in the North of England. Entrants must be 15 years or under when the awards close. Young writers can submit creative work in any form including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap.
There is one award winner each year. The award consists of a package of support created by New Writing North and is worth £500. The package will be tailored to the specific interests and needs of the winner, but could include anything from one-on-one mentoring with a professional writer, enrolment on a course, books, theatre tickets or a pass to a literature festival.
This award is judged by the family of Eva Ibbotson and New Writing North.
The Matthew Hale Award is open for entries until 6 February 2025.
Applications for the awards are accepted in two ways:
Nomination from an adult working with the young person (for example, parents, teachers or other adults).
Application directly from the young person.
You can read more about the awards, including submissions guidelines and information on eligibility criteria here.
If you have any questions about either the Young Northern Writer Award or the Matthew Hale Award please contact the NWN Young Writers team on [email protected].
*Please note the North of England is defined as the areas covered by Arts Council England in Yorkshire, North East and North West. We regret we are unable to accept submissions from outside these areas due to conditions in our funding from Arts Council England.
2024 Winners
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Eeva Tudor
Young Northern Writer Award
(11-14)
WinnerEeva is a secondary school pupil from Northumberland. She loves reading, writing, kickboxing and musical theatre. Her favourite genres of books are horror and fantasy. She is currently in the school choir and also writes for the school newspaper.
“I am thrilled to be chosen for this award, I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope the judges enjoyed reading it.”
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Cory Gourley
Young Northern Writer Award
(15-18)
WinnerCory Gourley is a playwright based in Newcastle whose work explores female anger, the realities of female sex work and the possibilities of power and silence in contemporary stage narratives. He is currently studying English at Newcastle University and has plans to work alongside Alphabetti Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre Writers’ Group (North) in the coming months. His main goal is to get his work developed in a local northern theatre at some point in the near future.
“Writing about reality, shows pain, writing about pain shows reality, especially in contemporary theatre – winning this award has reminded me of just that.”
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Mikhail Ali
Matthew Hale Award
Winner -
Yaqub Rahman
Young Northern Writer Award
(11-14)
Highly CommendedYaqub Rahman is a Year 6 pupil at Kelvin Grove Primary School in Gateshead.
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Isabella Merino Garzon
Young Northern Writer Award
(15-18)
Highly CommendedIsabella Merino is a Venezuelan immigrant who explores her identity, culture and heritage through her writing. Taking part in the Mixing Roots with Hive Young Writers allowed her to honour her homeland, explore her thoughts around being away from her family and write in Spanish, her mother tongue. Following the programme, she was published in Dear Life and We Are Everything and performed her poems at the Leadmill. She was runner up in the World Class Schools Essay Competition for her essay on friendship and has won the BBC Young Reporter competition for her article on food waste and inequality. She finds writing a powerful way to express her thoughts on the world and process the distance from her family and the tumultuous state of her home country.
“Being Highly Commended for the Young Northern Writers’ Award has given me confidence in my writing and inspired me to continue to pursue self-expression in this way. I am honoured the judges enjoyed my work and I can’t wait to see where the future of my writing takes me.”
