Young Writers’ Awards

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, lack of access to cultural opportunities or any other reasons.

This award is for a young person in Year 7 upwards (up to a maximum of 18 years of age) based in the North of England*. 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.

Applications for this award 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

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

Click the button below to apply for or nominate for the Matthew Hale Award. You can find out more, including submissions guidelines and information on eligibility criteria, by visiting the Northern Writers’ Awards website.