The Brit Writers' Awards is an exciting initiative to encourage and inspire unpublished writers of all ages.

The Brit Writers' Awards were launched in 2009 by the founding team behind the now internationally acclaimed Muslim Writers' Awards (MWA).

Having achieved great things with MWA in just a couple of years, BWA is now sharing the energy, excitement and community-building potential of a huge writing competition with the rest of the nation. In line with our vision, we've created a national writing awards event that accepts entries from people of all backgrounds and all ages. Our first ever competition attracted over 21,000 entries from Brits in 92 different countries.

Our inaugural ceremony took place on Thursday 15 July 2010 at The 02, London, where nine previously unpublished writers were honoured with prizes. Catherine Cooper, a former teacher from Shropshire, was our Unpublished Writer of the Year, securing £10,000 and a publishing deal for her children's novel The Golden Acorn.

Submissions for 2011 will be open soon. Not only do we want you to share your writing with the rest of the UK, but we'd love to reward you for doing so – with national acclaim for the shortlisted entrants and a fabulous £10,000 prize for the overall winner.

Learn more about the categories and entry process and stimulate your creativity with our news and features section.