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Northern Writers’ Awards 2012 open for entry

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Once again we’re inviting writers across the north east of England to submit their work of poetry or prose for the chance to win a share of a £25,000 prize pot.

The annual Northern Writers’ Awards, run by New Writing North, are a great chance for you to gain recognition and support for your writing talent, as well as feedback and input from NWN staff and the awards’ judges.

The awards are open to submissions from writers of prose or poetry until 20 April 2012. Writers are invited to submit up to 3,000 words or up to 30 poems of a work in development. You can view all the submission guidelines here.

The awards are open to any resident of the North East (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and the Tees Valley) writing fiction, narrative non-fiction, poetry or children’s books.

During the last ten years, over 100 writers have received an award, with 75% of those going on to successfully publish the work for which they specifically received the award.

Recent successful award-winners who have gone on to publish their work include Alice De Smith, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Mari Hannah and Toby Martinez de las Rivas.

New writer Niel Bushnell, who won an award for his children’s fiction in 2011, went on to secure a literary agent and a publishing deal with Andersen Press within weeks of his award, through attending a Northern Writers’ Awards talent-spotting event in London.

This year, the awards will be judged by literary agent Simon Trewin, editor Laura Palmer and poet and writer Paul Farley. The judging will be chaired by Claire Malcolm, director of New Writing North.

The winners of the 2012 Northern Writers’ Awards will be announced in July 2012. The winners will then take part in an industry networking evening in London in mid-July, where they will have the opportunity to meet agents and editors looking for new writing talent.

The awards are supported by Arts Council England and sponsored by The Leighton Group and Sunderland University.

More information and how to enter is at www.newwritingnorth.com/text.html?id=nwa12.