Enter

This programme will offer a package of support to two writers of fiction or narrative non-fiction and one writer of young adult fiction who are yet to publish a full-length novel or collection of short stories.

The programme has been devised by New Writing North to offer structured developmental support to writers with a work in progress showing potential for publication. Each winner will receive £2000, mentoring and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.

This award is made possible through New Writing North’s partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.

The Northern Debut Awards will close on 6 February 2025.

To enter writers should submit a sample of 3000–6000 words and a synopsis of up to 600 words. Please answer the application questions.

To apply for this award you should be:

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• A debut author of fiction or narrative non-fiction or an debut author of young adult fiction; you may have published short work in magazines and anthologies.

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.

For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]

Enter

Winning poets will receive awards of between £2000 and £5000 to support them to develop work in progress and to complete promising collections. These awards are open to applications from both emerging and established poets but poets yet to publish a full-length collection should consider entering the Northern Debut Awards: Poetry.

This award is made possible through New Writing North’s partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.

Winners will also receive access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.

The Northern Writers’ Awards will close on 6 February 2025.

To enter poets should submit up to 30 poems or an equivalent amount of longer sequences. Each submission of work must be accompanied by a commentary of up to 600 words that describes the proposed project. Please answer the application questions.

To apply for this award you should be:

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• Working on a full-length collection of poetry. 

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.

For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]

Enter

This programme will offer a package of support to three poets who are yet to publish a full-length collection.

The programme has been devised by New Writing North to offer developmental support to poets with a work in progress showing potential for publication.

Three awards will be made in this category. Each winner will receive £2000, mentoring and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.

This award is made possible through New Writing North’s partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.

The Northern Debut Awards will close on 6 February 2025.

To enter poets should submit up to 30 poems or an equivalent amount of longer sequences. Each submission of work must be accompanied by a commentary that describes the proposed project.

To apply for this award you should be:

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• A debut poet: you may have published a pamphlet and had individual poems in magazines and anthologies but you should not yet have published a full collection.

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.
For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]

Enter

This award, worth £2000, is open to writers of poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction who are either final-year students or graduates of Northumbria University who are based in the North of England. Writers can be at any stage in their career.

The award is open to students and graduates from any discipline who are: final-year undergraduates; current postgraduate students; or alumni who have graduated from an undergraduate or postgraduate programme at Northumbria University within the last ten years.

This award is made possible through New Writing North’s partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.

The Northumbria Student and Alumni Award will close on 6 February 2025.

We will accept the following for this award:

• A single standalone piece of work of 3000-6000 words. This can be a short story, poem, short script or a narrative non-fiction essay related to memoir, the arts, health or well-being.

Or

• An extract from a longer work of up to 3000–6000 words and a synopsis of up to 600 words. Please answer the application questions.

To apply for this award you should be:

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• A final-year undergraduate; current postgraduate student or alumni who has graduated from an undergraduate or postgraduate programme at Northumbria University within the last ten years.

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.
For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]

Enter

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 on 6 February 2025 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.

This award is made possible through New Writing North’s partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.

The Young Northern Writers’ Awards will close on 6 February 2025.

Applications for the awards are accepted in two ways:

• through nomination from an adult working with the young person (for example, parents, teachers or other adults)
• by application directly from the young person

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.

Enter

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 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 on 6 February 2025 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 winner will receive a package of support created by New Writing North to the value of £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.

We’re grateful to the Hale family for generously supporting this award.

This award is judged by the family of Matthew Hale and New Writing North.

The Matthew Hale Award will close on 6 February 2025.

Applications for the awards are accepted in two ways:

• through nomination from an adult working with the young person (for example, parents, teachers or other adults)
• by application directly from the young person

Click the button below to apply for or nominate for the awards.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.

Enter

This award is open to young writers aged 11-15 in the North of England who are writing in English as an additional language. Young writers can submit creative work in any form including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap. Writers must be aged 11-15 when the awards close on 6 February 2025.

There will be one winner. The winner will receive a bespoke package of support created by New Writing North to the value of £500. The package will be tailored to the specific interests and needs of the winner, but could include anything from mentoring with a professional writer, enrolment on a course, books, theatre tickets or a pass to a literature festival.

The award is made in memory of the writer Eva Ibbotson. Eva Ibbotson’s life was as adventurous as those of the characters she created in her mystical middle-grade stories and sweeping young adult romances. Born in Vienna in 1925, at nine years old Eva moved to London to join her mother, a successful novelist and playwright, who had fled Vienna in 1933 after her work was banned by the Nazi authorities. Other members of Eva’s family also escaped Vienna and settled in England, and their shared experiences later influenced Eva’s writing, with the themes of home, refugees and immigration running through her books. Eva wrote more than twenty books for children and won the Smarties Prize for her novel Journey to the River Sea in 2001. She died at her home in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2010, aged eighty-five.

We’re grateful to the Ibbotson family for generously supporting this award.

This award is judged by the family of Eva Ibbotson, New Writing North and a guest judge (to be announced).

The Young Northern Writers’ Awards will close on 6 February 2025.

Applications for the awards are accepted in two ways:

• through nomination from an adult working with the young person (for example, parents, teachers or other adults)
• by application directly from the young person

Click the button below to apply for or nominate for the awards.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.

Enter

This award is for a single unpublished short story of up to 1500 words. This opportunity is open to new, emerging and established writers. 

The winner of the Finchale Award for Short Fiction will receive £1000 and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network. 

The award is named after Finchale Priory, a place of retreat for the monks of Durham during the Middle Ages. We’re grateful to the writer Benjamin Myers, whose generous support has made this unique opportunity possible.  

To enter writers should submit a short story of up to 1500 words and answer the application questions. 

To apply for this award you should be: 

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. 
• Over the age of 18. 

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.   

For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]

The Sid Chaplin Award is for writers of fiction and narrative non-fiction who identify as originating from a working-class background. 

The winning writer will receive a bursary of £2000; a manuscript appraisal from The Literary Consultancy; advisory sessions from the writer Michael Chaplin; an introduction to the North Agency; and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network. 

The award is made in memory of the writer Sid Chaplin (1916–1986) whose novels such as The Day of the Sardine and The Watchers and the Watched are celebrated for their stylistic mastery and their vivid depictions of working-class life in North East England. 

We’re grateful to the Chaplin family, the North Agency and Newcastle University for their support of this award. 

To enter writers should submit a sample of 3000–6000 words and a synopsis and answer the application questions. 

To apply for this award you should be:   

• Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months.
• Over the age of 18.
• Identify as originating from a working-class background. 
• Working on a memoir, novel, young-adult novel, short-story collection or work of literary essays.
• An unpublished, emerging or established writer.

The judging panel will be announced in November.

For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.     

For any enquiries, please read the FAQs. If you still need an answer, contact us at [email protected]