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There is one award available. The winner will be offered the unique chance to work closely with Rollem Productions through a long-term placement, a bursary worth £3000 and mentoring support. The winner will also be given access to the C4/NWN Northern Talent Network. 

No writing experience is necessary. For these awards, we want to discover new writers from Northern England who would like to work in television. We especially welcome submissions from people of colour and those from LGBTQ+, disabled and lower socio-economic backgrounds, who are particularly under-represented in this area of the TV industry. 

This award will be judged by: Rollem Productions, Channel 4 and New Writing North. A shortlist of candidates will be invited for interview in August/September 2023. 

To enter writers should submit a pitch of an idea for an original storyline (up to 400 words) and a sample script of no more than ten pages. Please also answer the application questions. Writers who enter this award may also enter for Channel 4 Writing for Television Awards – Bonafide Films and Channel 4 Writing for Televison Awards – Lime Pictures. 

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.
• Writing for television and willing to commit to developing your work through the programme on offer.

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

There is one award available. The winner will be offered the unique chance to work closely with Bonafide Films, receive a bursary of £3000 and mentoring support. 

No writing experience is necessary. For this award, we want to discover new writers from Northern England who would like to work in television. We especially welcome submissions from people of colour and those from LGBTQ+, disabled and lower socio-economic backgrounds, who are particularly under-represented in this area of the TV industry. 

This award will be judged by: Bonafide Films, Channel 4 and New Writing North. A shortlist of candidates will be invited for interview in August/September 2023. 

To enter writers should submit an outline of an original TV drama storyline (up to 400 words) and a sample script of no more than ten pages, and answer the application questions. Please note that writers who enter this award may also enter for Channel 4 Writing for Television Awards – Lime Pictures and Channel 4 Writing for Television Awards – Rollem Productions. 

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.
• Writing for television and willing to commit to developing your work through the programme on offer.

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

For this award, we welcome entries from 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, worth up to £300 each. 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 during 2023. Unpublished and previously published writers may enter work in this category. 

In addition to the Free Read, writers will receive 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. Please note, you may enter this award in addition to one other award. 

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.

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] 

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 on 22 February 2023 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. 

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 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. 

Additionally, the three awardees will be offered a group Writing Weekend at Lockhaugh Farm in Rowlands Gill. We are very grateful to the generosity of Deborah Hunter at Lockhaugh Farm for providing this unique retreat. This will take place from 29 September to 1 October 2023. 

Two of the three winners will be accepted onto the Out-Spoken Press Emerging Poets Development Scheme and receive mentoring from Anthony Anaxagorou.    

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.

This award will be judged by Caroline Bird and Anthony Anaxagorou. 

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]

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. 

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. 

This award will be judged by Sairish Hussain and Ross Raisin. 

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]

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. 

Additionally, the three awardees will be offered a group Writing Weekend at Lockhaugh Farm in Rowlands Gill. We are very grateful to the generosity of Deborah Hunter at Lockhaugh Farm for providing this unique retreat. This will take place from 3 November to 5 November 2023. 

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.

Two awards will be selected by Sairish Hussain and Ross Raisin (Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction).  

One Young Adult winner will be selected by Lucy Irvine.  

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 are very 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 award will be judged by the representatives of the North Agency, the Chaplin family and Newcastle University, along with a guest writer. 

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]

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 massively 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. 

Please note, you may enter this award in addition to one other award. 

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 Zaffar Kunial and Adelle Stripe.  

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]

This award, worth £2000, is open to writers of poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction who are either final-year students or graduates at 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. 

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.

A shortlist will be selected by Northumbria University staff with the winner chosen by judges Sairish Hussain and Ross Raisin. 

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]