|
Awards categories
Awards ceremony Entry deadline How to enter Entry rules and T&Cs Judging criteria High-profile judges
How do you feel your school will benefit from holding a mini BWA competition?
"Children will be inspired and motivated to write. They enjoy the challenge of producing an excellent piece of writing for a competition. Parents and children will be equally involved and writing quality and achievement will improve. There will be a positive impact on attainment in writing as children and staff become more focused and inspired."
Claretta Jean Assistant Head Teacher Downsell Primary School  "The pen is the tongue of the mind" - Miguel de Cervantes |
Judging criteria
To stand the best possible chance of submitting a successful entry – one which will see your work progressing through the various stages of the judging process – you need to make sure that your submission ticks all the boxes and hits all the right buttons! Judging criteria
To stand the best possible chance of submitting a successful entry – one which will see your work progressing through the various stages of the judging process and maybe also being shortlisted for final consideration – you need to make sure that your submission ticks all the boxes and hits all the right buttons! The very first hurdle is ensuring that your entry is submitted in the correct format. If you don't get that right, you don't progress any further. It's strict, but simple. So follow the instructions carefully. All entries should be submitted in the correct format: • Single PDF, Word document or Rich Text File We have simplified our judging criteria for 2011. In every category, our judges will be looking equally for... • Technical ability (such as writing and compositional skills, presentation, form, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on) • Saleability and potential for publication (including audience-appropriateness and appeal). As well as all of the above, there are a few specific things to think about in each category: Award categories for adults Poetry Each entry should comprise a collection of five poems – with a minimum of six lines and a maximum of 40 lines per poem (unless it is a haiku). Short stories Each story should be a minimum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 5,000 words. Novels Each entry should comprise three sample chapters (ideally the first three chapters, but a different three consecutive chapters may be submitted) and a useful, relevant synopsis. Non-fiction Entries must be an 'acceptable work of non-fiction' - dissertations and research papers will be accepted. Please use, if applicable, chapters and chapter titles. Stories for children Entries can be of any length but must be aimed at readers aged 16 or under. Songwriting Our judges will, in addition to the criteria above, be looking to see how well the melody fits with any supplied lyrics. Stage and screen plays This is a new category for BWA 2011. Please bear with us while we hone our judging criteria and put together some useful resources for you. Published Writer of the Year: the only category for published writers (this does not include self-published work) • Nominations in this category may only be made by publishers - writers and their agents should urge publishers to act on their behalf. • This category only applies to published novels. • To nominate in this category, publishers must submit work from three different authors. • Each publisher must send five hard copies of each of the three nominated books to the BWA office: Brit Writers' Awards, 63-65 Rea Street, Birmingham B5 6BB. • These three books must have been published within 24 months either side of the closing date. • Each nominated book must have been published in English. • Each publisher must submit a short biography and photo of each of their nominated writers, as well as an image of each book cover and a synopsis for each nominated book, plus a short profile of their own business. These can be sent to the BWA office on a CD-ROM at the same time as the hard copies of each book. • It is the responsibility of publishers to inform writers of their nominations. • Writers' groups will discuss and critique each of the nominated books and use a standard scoring system to select the top 25 published novels. • These top 25 novels will be put to a two-week-long public vote to create a shortlist of the top five published novels (dates to be confirmed). • Then the top five novels will be put to a second two-week-long public vote to decide the overall winner (dates to be confirmed). • The Published Writer of the Year will be announced at the Brit Writers' Awards gala ceremony for 2011 (date to be confirmed). Awards categories for young people (16 and under) Poetry: Each entry should consist of a collection of three poems – with a minimum of six lines and a maximum of 40 lines per poem (unless it is a haiku). Short stories Short stories submitted by children should be a maximum of 3,000 words long. Songwriting Our judges will, in addition to the criteria above, be looking to see how well the melody fits with any supplied lyrics. And then the rest is up to our judges. The more you interest, engage and excite them with your words, the more points they will award your entry. Good luck!
|
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
Local Leaders
Become a BWA local literacy leader and raise literacy levels in your ward. Sign up to be a BWA local literacy leader |
