How do you grab the attention of the reader within the first three pages of your script? As part of SCRIPT TALKS we will be holding a session called Three Page Challenge: Horror Edition hosted by BAFTA Winning Producer Emily Leo and featuring a panel of industry experts who will read and feedback on the first three pages of your feature horror script and offer advice on how to make it really stand out. The selected three projects will receive free tickets and travel to SCRIPT TALKS at Arc as well as three sessions with a professional script editor to polish your script after the event.

If you are a Northern based writer and would like to submit your Horror feature script for consideration for the Three Page Challenge please complete the submission form here.  Deadline to submit scripts 27 October.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible to submit your script you must be over 18 on point of submission, live in the North of England and be available to attend the Three Page Challenge event on Wednesday 24 February at Arc, Stockton 7.15pm.

SCRIPT TALKS is funded by the Tees Valley Combined Authority. Tees Valley – An Engine Room of Creative Production.

The Hachette Children’s Novel Awards are open to debut writers of middle-grade children’s fiction and early teen fiction. We accept all kinds of children’s and early teen fiction, including but not limited to historical fiction, crime, science fiction, romance and fantasy. Please do not submit collections of short stories or individual short stories.

In terms of target age group, we are looking for fiction for children aged 7–11 (at the younger end of this bracket the word count can be 15–30K; at the older end, approx. 40K), or teen fiction for readers aged 11–13 (50–65K words), this should still exclude high-end or explicit content including swearing, sex and drugs.

There will be two winners of this award. The winning writers will be offered a financial prize of £3000 each; and a programme of mentoring opportunities with professionals at Hachette Children’s Group, including a minimum of 4 professional development sessions in a nine-month period, across editorial and design, sales, marketing and rights.

Any reasonable travel expenses will be covered by the publisher. Additionally, the winners will receive access to New Writing North’s programmes of support.

Please submit your initial 3000-6000 words and synopsis by the award deadline. Authors longlisted for the award will be contacted by 20 February 2027 and must deliver a complete draft of their manuscript by 1 March 2027.

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 middle-grade and early teen fiction.

Please do not put your name on your writing sample or as part of the file name for your extract.

Please note you can only apply to ONE award in this submission window: either the Hachette Children's Novel Award or the Great Northern Read Award.

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 awards@newwritingnorth.com.

There are three awards that young people can submit to/be nominated for. You can submit to one, two or all three at once depending on your eligibility. Please read about the awards below before submitting.

Applications for the awards are accepted in two ways:

• by application directly from yourself
• an adult who works with the young person can submit a nomination (for example, parents, teachers or other adults)

We accept both written applications and recorded files for these awards.

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The Young Northern Writers’ Awards are 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 15 March 2027 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. Judges will be announced in November 2026.

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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 when the awards close on 15 March 2027. Young writers can submit creative work in any form including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap.

There is one winner. 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.

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The Eva Ibbotson 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. Entrants must be 15 years or under on 15 March 2027 when the awards close.

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 Eva Ibbotson Award 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). We’re grateful to the Ibbotson family and Pan Macmillan 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).

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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 awards@newwritingnorth.com.

The Great Northern Read Award has been devised by Johnson & Alcock to offer a fresh and exciting opportunity for emerging writers of gripping, page-turning fiction across all genres, who are looking to take the next step towards publication. 

The award is open to unagented and unpublished writers who are currently living in the North of England. We are interested in submissions across the full spectrum of genres, including but not limited to: crime, mystery, thriller, historical, romance, fantasy, sci-fi and book club fiction, with an emphasis on immersive storytelling and compelling writing. 

There will be one winning writer, who will receive £2500 prize money, a structured programme of mentoring sessions with representatives from Johnson & Alcock literary agency, who will provide the successful candidate with tailored guidance on manuscript development and career progression. During this time you will commit to a period of exclusive development with Johnson & Alcock. The winner will also receive access to New Writing North’s programme of support for writers.

To enter, writers must submit the first 3000-6000 words of their novel in progress and a synopsis, and answer a set of application questions. All applications must be entered via Submittable. 

Authors longlisted for the award will be notified by 1 March and asked to deliver a complete draft of their manuscript via Submittable by 15 March. Therefore, although you don’t need to have a complete full draft in order to submit, you should be in a position where you will be able to submit a full draft by 15 March 2027.

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 writer who is yet to have published or self-published a full-length work. 
• A writer of fiction across all genres.
• Currently unagented. 

Please do not put your name on your writing sample or as part of the file name for your extract.

Please note you can only apply to ONE award in this submission window: either the Great Northern Read Award or the Hachette Children's Novel Award.

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 awards@newwritingnorth.com