New Media Writing Prize 2013 now open for entries

Posted on Tuesday, September 24 2013

Dr James Pope with winners at last year's awards.

The fourth annual New Media Writing Prize is now open for entries, with a £1,000 top prize.

The international competition showcases story-telling specifically created to be accessed through new media devices, such as computers, hand-held tablets and mobile phones.

Entries could be anything from a short story, novel, documentary or poem using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction.

The competition is open to all, with a prize for the overall winner of £1,000, donated by if:book UK.

There is also a People’s Choice winner, chosen by readers through an online vote, who will receive a prize of £250.

Students can also enter, with the student category prize of a 3 month paid internship at Bournemouth-based e-company Unicorn Training.

Competition organiser, Dr James Pope, who is also Programme Coordinator for the BA English programme at BU, said: “This competition attracts the best innovative writing from around the world, and is truly breaking new ground.

“Each year we see terrific work that showcases new-media as the future of storytelling.”

Previous winners have included Hurst – the story of a fictional character unravelling through Twitter and YouTube – and Window, which combined different words, sounds and imagery depending on which categories a reader selected.

The competition, run by Bournemouth University, also aims to provoke discussion and raise awareness of new media writing, the future of the written word and storytelling.

Winning entries will be published on new media web-hub The Literary Platform, the Bournemouth University website and will be showcased at the Awards Ceremony, which will take place at BU on January 22.

The winners will be chosen by a panel of judges including Joanna Ellis, Associate Director at The Literary Platform, Chris Meade, writer and founder of if:book UK and Dan Franklin, Digital Publisher at the Random House Group in the UK.

Dan said: “I’m delighted to be involved with the judging of the New Media Writing Prize again this year: it respects the fact that media is converging, authors are adopting new skills, and writing is changing.”

The deadline for entries is Monday November 25th at 12 noon, and the closing date for student entries is Friday December 13th.

Each entry should be submitted by email to submissions@newmediawritingprize.co.uk.

To see previous winners and enter the competition visit the New Media Writing Prize website.