Opportunity for aspiring writers with launch of annual awards

Final year students, and alumni who have graduated from Northumbria in the last 10 years, are being invited to enter this year’s Northern Writers’ Awards, with a £2,000 prize up for grabs.

Founded and produced by New Writing North with support from Northumbria University and Arts Council England, the Northern Writers’ Awards are the largest and longest-running writer development programme in England.

Now in their 26th year, the 2025 awards have just opened for entries, and once again include a category specifically for Northumbria students and graduates.

The Northumbria University Student and Alumni Award, worth £2000, is open to writers of poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction. The award is open to students and graduates from any discipline who are:

• final-year undergraduates
• current postgraduate students
• alumni who have graduated from an undergraduate or postgraduate programme at Northumbria University within the last ten years

The Northern Writers’ Awards are known for delivering crucial support for writers at an earlier stage than most literary awards, usually before an agent or publisher is involved.

Richard T. Kelly, novelist and Associate Professor in English and Creative Writing at Northumbria University, said: "The Northern Writers Awards are an invaluable platform to ensure that writing talents from the region are properly recognised, across their diversity of styles, genres and formal approaches. Northumbria University remains, as always, very proud and thrilled to support New Writing North’s invaluable initiative, and we eagerly await all the fine writing that this year’s programme will bring forth."

The Northumbria Student and Alumni Award will close on 6 February 2025.

Find out more and enter the 2025 Northern Writers’ Awards.