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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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Winners will receive awards of between £2000 and £5000 to support them to develop work in progress and to complete promising manuscripts. They will also be given access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.

These awards are open to applications from both emerging and established writers, but we recommend that as-yet-unpublished writers consider entering the Northern Debut Awards: Fiction programme or the Hachette Children’s Novel Award. Please read the Eligibility criteria carefully to see if you can enter this award.

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

The Northern Writers’ 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.
• Working on a full-length novel, work of narrative non-fiction or a short-story 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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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In conjunction with Arvon, we are offering a prose writer the chance to undertake an Arvon course. This may be either a tutored or untutored retreat, depending on what you think will be of most benefit to you. Both children’s writers and writers for adults may apply for this award. We are grateful to Arvon for their continued support of this award. 

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.
• Be working towards a full-length work of fiction or narrative non-fiction.

Former winners: please note that if you win another Northern Writers’ Award in 2025 you are not eligible to enter this award.

This award will be judged by Arvon and New Writing North. 

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] 

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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. 

This award will be judged by Paul Smith and Preti Taneja.

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]

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This award is open to people who may have faced barriers to seeing their work progress for financial reasons or issues connected to disability, ethnicity and/or sexuality. For more information, see TLC’s website. 

In conjunction with The Literary Consultancy we are offering up to three poets, prose writers and children’s writers the chance to receive an in-depth editorial report on their work in progress. You must be working towards a full-length work (e.g. a novel, work of creative non-fiction, poetry collection or short-story collection). Although your manuscript does not have to be complete, you must be in a position to submit the manuscript for assessment before the end of February 2026. Unpublished and previously published writers may enter work in this category. 

In addition to the Free Read, writers will receive £500 and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.

To enter writers should submit and extract of between 3000 and 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.
• Be working towards a full-length work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or poetry.

Former winners: please note that if you win another Northern Writers’ Award in 2025 you are not eligible to enter this award.

This award will be assessed internally by New Writing North. 

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]

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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; 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.

This award will be judged by the writer Nasim Rebecca Asl alongside representatives of the Chaplin family and the Robinson Library.

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]

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The Tempest Prize will reward one unpublished LGBTQ+ writer based in the North of England.

This award is open to poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction. You will need to provide an extract of a work in-progress. For fiction or narrative non-fiction this should be 3000-6000 words, along with a synopsis. For poetry, please enter up to 15 pages of poetry and a short commentary on your collection in progress. Please also answer the application questions.

The winner of the Tempest Prize will receive £1000, access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network and mentoring from Andrew McMillan.

We’re grateful to the writer Andrew McMillan, whose generous support has made this unique opportunity possible.

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.

This award will be judged by the writer Okechukwu Nzelu.

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]   

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