WRITERS’ NEWS
Aim for the summit
Tina Jackson
Win a £10,000 first prize for new writing on the theme of Forgiveness and Retribution in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize 2020.
Every year, the Alpine Fellowship awards prizes to the best works concerning the theme for the Alpine Fellowship Annual Symposium, which for 2020 is Forgiveness and Retribution.
Writers at any stage of their career are invited to submit work in any genre up to 2,500 words that addresses the theme. The winner will receive £10,000, and be presented with their award by poet John Burnside. There are runners-up prizes of £3,000 and £2,000. The winners and runners up will be invited to attend the Alpine Fellowship symposium in Fjällnäss in Sweden.
There are also two £3,000 prizes, for the best responses to the theme in drama, and academic writing.
All entries must be original and unpublished.
Entry is free. One entry will be accepted per writer.
The closing date is 1 April.
Website: https://alpinefellowship.com/writing-prize
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
The Lindisfarne Prize for Debut Crime Fiction is inviting entries.
Bestselling author LJ Ross set up and sponsors the £2,500 prize for new crime writers from the north of England.
The Lindisfarne Prize will be given for outstanding crime or thriller writing by new writers who are from, or whose work celebrates, the north of England. Writers entering the competition must not previously have had a crime or thriller story published in any form.
The winner will receive £2,500 to support the completion of their work, and editorial mentoring and support from an independent publisher. Bestselling crime writer LJ Ross, whose DCI Ryan series is set in her native Northumberland, is sponsoring the prize in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival, and the winner will be announced at the Festival in May.
The winner of last year’s inaugural Lindisfarne Prize was Cressida Downing, whose work The Roll Bearer’s Daughter is set on Holy Island at the beginning of the 15th century.
To enter, send a short story no longer than 10,000 words or the first two chapters and a synopsis of a work in progress.
The closing date is 31 March.
Website: www.ljrossauthor.com/lindisfarne-prize/
Sisters doing it
The SI Leeds Literary Prize is a biennial prize for new Black and Asian women writers with unpublished fiction manuscripts. Entries are invited for the 2020 competition.
The SI Leeds Literary Prize was established in 2012 by Soroptimist International to showcase the work of aspiring Black and Asian women writers. Since its inception, winners and runners up who have achieved major publishing success include Kit de Waal, Mahsuda Snaith, Winnie M Li, Season Butler and Amita Murray.
The prize for the winner includes £3,000 and an Arvon course. There are prizes of £1,250 and £750 for the runners-up. All three top-placed writers will be offered manuscript assessment by The Literary Consultancy, opportunities for industry networking, editorial consultancy by and consideration for publication with Peepal Tree Press. All shortlisted writers will be invited to read from their work at Ilkley Literature Festival.
Entrants must be UK-based Black and Asian women fiction writers, who are asked to submit complete manuscripts of original, unpublished novels or short story collections of no less than 30,000 words, and a brief synopsis.
There is a £10 fee for entry.
The closing date is 30 April.
Website: www.sileedsliteraryprize.com
Grand prize for young Scots poets
The biennial Edwin Morgan Poetry Award is open to submissions of an unpublished collection of 25-50 poems from poets under the age of 30 who have been born or raised in Scotland, have lived there for the last three years or have a Scottish parent.
There are glittering prizes of £20,000 for the winner, £2,500 to a runner up and £1,000 to those who are shortlisted. And that’s not all. As this year will be a centenary celebration the Award will be featured in venues and events across Scotland, the UK and internationally.
Poems may be written in English, Scots or Gaelic. If writing in the latter, attach an English version. If individual poems have been
