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How do you feel your school will benefit from holding a mini BWA competition?
"It will boost students confidence and raise their interest in writing"
Maktina Vetrakova English Co - Ordinator William Morris School  "For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me" - Jack Dann |
BWA team blog
Check back regularly to read the latest news and updates about the Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished. Watch this space to stay up to date with the most recent BWA happenings, brought to you directly from the BWA team... With more than 300,000 school children across the UK engaging with the programme, we always knew this competition was going to be big... but just how big wasn't apparent until the final days before the closing date, when sackloads of post turned up at our office and thousands of entries were submitted online. As we continue making plans for our glittering awards ceremony, taking place at the 02 in London on Saturday 26 June, the hardest part of the process is now down to our judges, who will be carefully reading every entry in the coming weeks and deciding who to shortlist. It's a mammoth challenge, but one we're confident they will rise to with all the skills, knowledge and literary insight required to unearth the UK's next writing stars." It's 2010 and the deadline for the first ever Brit Writers' Awards is fast approaching... “Our vision for the Brit Writers’ Awards is to get the nation into creative writing – to raise literacy levels and encourage people to share their stories. We’re also keen to make the publishing world more accessible to ordinary people,” he says. “For the first ever BWA competition, we’re focusing especially on young writers and helping their schools to nurture a love of reading and writing in them from early on. “We’re keenly aware that a child’s success as a writer in the future depends on teachers and parents working together. Indeed, experience shows us that where parents join in partnership with the school on writing-related projects, the children’s writing is of a much higher standard. “So teachers from BWA member schools are encouraged to get parents and carers involved as much as they can... maybe by running creative-writing workshops (don’t forget that mums and dads can enter the competition too!) or asking parents to volunteer in the classroom.” We’d love to hear how you get on: email schools@britwriters.co.uk and tell us! In the meantime, if you’re from a BWA member school, have you checked out our writing resources lately? Entry not ready? Don't panic: we're giving you more time Breaking news! The first ever Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished is proving to be bigger and more popular than we ever could have predicted ... and for that reason, we're extending the deadline to 5pm on Friday 26 February 2010. We're delighted with the way Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010 is shaping up. Hundreds of thousands of students from schools across the UK are taking part - not to mention all those adults who never dreamed of being creative before. The UK's imagination is all sparked up and ready to unleash a torrent of stories, poems and songs on our judging panel - and we're enjoying reading the entries that are now coming in every day. We know the run-up to Christmas is a busy period, though, and we don't want you to rush your masterpiece. We also realise our judges are going to need more time to carefully consider each and every entry. So we've pushed back the closing date to Friday 26 February 2010, giving you no excuse not to wow us with your literary prowess. The glittering gala awards ceremony will now take place on Saturday 26 June 2010. Stuck for inspiration? Check out our creative-writing articles! _______________ Welcome news for self-published authors! Due to overwhelming demand, we're happy to tell you that Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010 is now open to authors who have self-published their work. Our original terms & conditions stated that anyone who had a book with an ISBN was classed as ‘published' - and therefore not eligible to take part in the competition. But thanks to helpful feedback from would-be entrants, we've decided to scrap that rule and open the competition out to self-published authors: people who don't have an agent or traditional publisher, but who have marketed their books themselves. Zareen Roohi Ahmed, our head of operations here at Brit Writers, said that leaving people out who had chosen to self-publish would have gone against the spirit of the competition. "We keep hearing from writers who were so desperate to get their book out - but couldn't find an agent or publisher - that they went to the expense of getting their book printed themselves in the hope that they would get noticed," she explained. "We know it's hard to break into the publishing industry ... that's one of the main reasons we set up Brit Writers. So we want to do everything we can to support and nurture writers who have already travelled a long way in their writing career but haven't yet got that big break. We wish them all the best of luck!" Enter your work into Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010 today: find out how. Hello there! Are you wondering where the sunshine went? We think we know what happened to our summer here at the Brit Writers' Awards: it got swept away in a whirlwind of work, meetings and exciting developments. Here's what's new at BWA HQ... If you've looked at our homepage recently, then you'll have seen a brilliant BWA promotional film created by Ilyas Kaduji, the BAFTA-nominated digital effects whiz behind blockbuster titles that include Sweeney Todd, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and several of the Harry Potter films. We're hugely grateful to Ilyas for creating this short film for us - and think it captures perfectly what we aim to achieve with BWA: the ability to spread inspiration, excitement and the message that everyone has something worth writing and sharing with the world. Watch the film now. Ilyas is not the only big name to grace our website - we're already getting support from high-profile politicians, including the Rt Hon MPs David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Alex Salmond. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, thinks the awards are a "great initiative", inspiring people "from all over the country to pick up a pen and get creative". David Cameron, who leads the Conservative party, says the awards "present a real opportunity for every potential writer to show what he or she can achieve". Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is "thrilled to see the diversity of writing categories". You can read their full endorsements here. Another person we're delighted to have on our team is Azeem Ibrahim, the Scottish entrepreneur, academic and philanthropist who founded ECM Bank. Azeem grew up on a council estate with no notable connections in life, yet became a self-made millionaire, making it onto the Sunday Times' Scots Rich List at the age of just 31. He has recently advised the UK government on improving social mobility, and is therefore the ideal person to spread the word about self-belief and creative writing. Read what Azeem has to say about BWA. How are you getting on with your entries? We're regularly adding inspiration and tips on creative writing to our Features section, so there's no excuse not to get started... Happy scribbling! The BWA team Just a few weeks on from the launch of our website and it's all GO here at the Brit Writers' Awards! We were key sponsors of Go4it this year (a national awards scheme which celebrates schools that show creativity, innovation and adventure in learning), so our founder Imran got to speak at a swanky ceremony aboard the Symphony riverboat on the Thames. Only marginally less glamorous was our appearance at a Literacy Co-ordinators' Conference in the West Midlands, where Zareen and Stephanie were able to tell hundreds of delegates about the power of creative writing in boosting the UK's levels of literacy. And Rohail did a star turn on BBC WM on Sunday evening, telling late-night listeners all about the Brit Writers' Awards. He'd arrived in a bit of a hurry, still wearing his slippers (we always knew he had feet for the radio), but we're very proud of the interview he carried out with presenter Arshia Riaz. All our hard work is paying off: every week more people register with the website and more schools and organisations sign up to become members of the BWA. Entries have even begun trickling in from some keen writers - we may feature some examples here soon. We're still developing the site and plan to add lots more inspirational content over the coming weeks, so do check back regularly for tips and ideas on writing your entry. In the meantime, we hope you're making the most of this miserable weather to stay indoors and get creative... See you soon The BWA team _______________ Well... we're here! Welcome to 'launch week' of the Brit Writers' Awards website. We're delighted you've already shown an interest in the BWA and we look forward to receiving your story, poem or song submission. If you're stuck for writing inspiration, then register to use our exclusive inspiration area - it's completely free and features regularly updated ideas, features and prompts. While the website is newly launched, here at the BWA offices we've already travelled a long way in our exciting journey to bring a national writing awards initiative to you. Behind the scenes, we've been focusing on signing up high-profile judges - the UK's leading publishers, literary agents and media representatives - who will play a key role not only in helping us to uncover the UK's best new writers, but in creating a springboard for their work. While the £10,000 prize for the overall winner is a fabulous draw for hopeful entrants, we're certain that the career potential and prestige earned by BWA finalists will be worth even more. We've also been busy encouraging teachers to jump aboard the BWA ship, and to help pupils to enhance their writing skills and capacity for self-expression, while also sharing stories and creating a better sense of understanding between different groups of people. Our hard work has paid off: we're already engaging with thousands of pupils and teachers from the length and breadth of the UK - many of whom have already started drafting and crafting their masterpieces! If your school hasn't signed up yet, there is still time: download your schools information pack and membership form. And now we're looking forward to you joining us on our journey to the star-studded gala awards ceremony next year. Will your writing take you all the way to that glittering stage on Saturday 27 March 2010, where you'll be revealed as one of the UK's best new writing stars? You'll never know unless you get scribbling... The closing date for entries is Friday 18 December 2009 - that gives you less than six months to turn your spark of an idea into an engaging, exciting, original piece of prose, poetry or music. So get writing now! We can't wait to hear from you! All the best The BWA team _______________
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From the team
Message from our CEO We've received thousands of entries! The deadline has now passed, and we're over the moon about the popularity of the first ever Brit Writers' Awards. Read the BWA team blog... Latest
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