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
This award will be judged by Sandra Sawicka.
For more information, please read the Eligibility and Conditions of Entry carefully.
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. This award is made possible through New Writing North's partnership with our lead partner Northumbria University.
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.
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 Ibbottson prize will include a collection of Pan Macmillan books to the value of £200 to the winning pupil's school library and a set of Eva's books to the winner (and any runners up)
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 28 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.